


Vigils

by FrostWolfGirl



Category: Doctor Who (2005), Marvel Cinematic Universe, Roski - Fandom, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), whovengers - Fandom
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-01-08
Updated: 2018-01-28
Packaged: 2018-05-12 13:31:04
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 12
Words: 26,799
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5667793
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FrostWolfGirl/pseuds/FrostWolfGirl
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When the Tesseract is activated, Nick Fury knows he's up against something the World has never faced. He assembles the Avengers, but he also has a secret weapon: a woman that shouldn't exist. Not only is her experience with Interdimensional Travel an asset, but there's something just a bit... not human about her. Will she be the key to bringing the Dark Prince to his knees, or will she only serve to annoy him further in his quest for World Domination? </p><p>An Whovengers AU in which Rose Tyler joins the Avengers.</p><p>(Rated Mature. Rating changed 6/18/17)</p><p>(Rose is based on an RP blog I run, therefore no one is stealing anything. If you think you see similarities, that's because they are purposeful.)</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Recruitment

**Author's Note:**

> Un-beta'd.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Un-beta'd

_“Director? Director Fury? Do you copy?”_

“The Tesseract is with the enemy force. I have many men down. Hill?” he replies into his com.

“A lot of men still under, don't know how many survivors,” she reports.

Nick Fury sighs. “Sound the general call. I want every living soul not working rescue looking for that brief case. Coulson, get back to base. This is a LEVEL SEVEN. As of right now, we are at war.”

Agent Phil Coulson waits just a beat before asking the dreaded question, “What do we do?”

Director Fury knows _exactly_ what they need to do. It goes beyond what one man can do, what one team can do. He needs an expert, someone that has quite a bit more experience jumping through dimensions. He ponders his words carefully before speaking.

“Assemble the Avengers,” he states firmly. “And get Pete Tyler on the phone. We need all the help we can get.”

The com line clicks off, leaving Phil with a question on his lips… Pete Tyler? The Vitex guy?

~*~

Rose frowns, arms crossed over her chest as her impossible blonde hair is tied in a cascade down her back. Two brown eyes study the surveillance footage again, looking down her nose as she stands behind her best friend and second in command, Jake Simmonds. He’s sitting back in his chair, both feet planted on the desk in front of him and crossed at the ankle, his arms behind his head and a tuft of blonde spikey hair covering his scalp perfectly. He’s grinning like a loon, blue eyes darting from the screen to Rose and then back again.

“Ye really think ye’ll see anything different the 49th time ye watch it?” he asks with a teasing tone in his light Scottish accent.

Rose Tyler ignores him for the time being, her entire focus on the fair skinned brute that popped out of nowhere. The tape ends with a great explosion whiting out the screen, as it does every other time she watches it.

“Play it again,” she states. Jake has already perfected the motion, clicking the space bar with the heel of his boot so that he doesn’t need to sit up again from his relaxed stance. The tape plays once more from the beginning.

“Ms. Tyler, we really don’t have time for—” Nick Fury begins.

“It’s Commander,” she interrupts, correcting him of her proper title. “And you _do_ have time if y’want my help now shut up.”

Fury frowns at her tone. Had she been anyone else, he’d have given her a mouthful. As it was, she was not and probably never would be a member of his team. She was both separate and above him in many ways, the Commander of Torchwood Three, and heiress of Torchwood Proper. The only reason she wasn’t commanding the entire operation was her almost father hadn’t quite retired yet. But even so, Torchwood did nothing without her approval. She was leader in all but title.

Rose watches with keen eyes at the appearance of the one known as Loki. She suppresses a shiver at the grin he wears upon materialization. It’s… cold and calculating. She’s seen that look before.

 _”You have heart,_ ” he says, pointing his staff into another’s heart. Something about that statement makes her heart pound just a bit harder.

 _“I’ve come too far for anything else…”_ She knew that feeling well. Would that the footage were of better quality! The look in a man’s eyes can tell one a great deal if one knows how to read them. It wouldn’t matter what sort of alien race he was, she had plenty of experience reading alien eyes. At the end of the day, he was still a man.

She watches Loki walk out of the room, flanked by three men he’d bewitched and the footage switches into the parking garage as he kneels in the back of a pickup truck and speeds out. After that it’s a series of differing angles, some from the air, and others from traffic cameras. It’s obviously been pieced together to the best of S.H.E.I.L.D’s ability, but its rubbish and she can’t quite make heads or tails of any of it.

The explosions are quite nice though…

When it ends for the final time she pinches the bridge of her nose calculating her words before speaking. “Explain t’me why y’came here again, Director Fury,” she asks, though it sounds much more like a statement.

“ _Commander_ Tyler,” he begins, emphasizing her title this time. “You have experience with Interdimensional Travel. This Tesseract is acting as a portal and we need to know how to scan for its activity in order to track it.”

“Then I suggest you look at your own records, Director Fury,” Rose answers with a wave of her hand. “Your people had the advantage of studyin’ it, while I have a two minute long video or what it can do in America under the influence of some sort of technology no one’s ever seen b’fore. I fail t’see how I can help you if you wish t’keep lyin’ t’me, so why don’t y’cut the bullshit and spit it out?”

Fury chuckles at her fire, shaking his head with a small amused smile. “Very well, Commander. I thought the footage would piqué your interest. I have a business proposition for you.”

Rose’s smile mirrored his, a hint of mischief and the gleam of a new adventure turning up the corners of her mouth. “Go on.”

“I’m assembling a team, one of which this world has never seen before and a force to be reckoned with should this Loki follow through with his threats,” he explains, folding his hands behind his back and stepping toward her a bit.

“And I s’pose you’d like me t’join?” she asks.

“I’d like you to assist,” he qualifies. “With your experience in aliens and Interdimensional travel you would be an asset to the team, though you wouldn’t see any real fighting.”

She smile drops quickly at that. “Why?”

Fury is not put off by her change in attitude. “You lack certain assets that my team would require on the battlefield, should a war break out,” he states simply.

“The Avengers Intuitive,” she says with a knowing tone and when his eyebrows shoot up her smile returns. “You think I hadn’t known? Tony Stark is quite the blabber mouth if y’give him the right amount of adult beverages in a row and bat your eyes just right. Plus, he’s a sucker for a blonde.”

“I should have known Stark would tell you,” Fury shakes his head not even the slightest bit surprised. Millionaires of the world tended to flock together at social events.

“Who said anything about him tellin’ Rose?” Jake chimes in for the first time since the conversation began. He’s wearing a shit eating grin and waggles his eyebrows at the Director.

Fury clears his throat and decides its best _not_ to take the bait.

“The point is, Commander Tyler, you would simply be a consultant,” Fury goes on. “This has nothing to do with your Torchwood Training; in fact it’s well known how capable you are in a fight. But my team is stronger than mere mortals.”

“I think you may find you’ve totally under estimated me, Director,” she sneers good-naturedly as her eyes begin to glow, a swirling vortex of gold.


	2. The History of Rose

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Un-beta'd. 
> 
> Sorry this took so long. The first draft of this chapter was completely scrapped.

Rose hates flying. Well, scratch that… she hates flying in certain containers. After flying across all of time and space in something that never ended and one could never hope to fully explore, sitting in a seat seemed a bit… constrictive to say the least.

Zeppelins are her least favorite. They’re slow, noisy and generally not useful for anyone in a hurry. Thankfully the eyesore’s had gone out of style two years ago and were the stuff of mockery now.

_“Oh you still fly by Zeppelin? How quaint…”_

Her second least favorite containers are jets. Even the Torchwood Jet, cleverly disguised as a Vitex Jet, couldn’t quite get up to a speed she felt was the least bit urgent. However, she still had a bit of space to move about when her nervous energy got the better of her.

Perhaps her favorite container in this universe is the helicopter. If the doors are open, even better. The wind whipping through her hair gives her the sense of flying. The noise doesn’t even bother her; if she closes her eyes she can pretend the humming was a different sort of humming. But that sort of mind game only made her a bit sad. Not as sad as it used too, of course. She was well removed from that part in her life now. Even her late husband had become a bittersweet topic of discussion and she found it much easier to speak of him now than she had three years prior.

It is a long journey from London to New York. She was not allowed to use her manipulator, nor would she really want to. That was a heavily guarded secret and a trump card she hoped to keep under the radar for as long as possible. She’d be in need of that soon enough, especially with the agreement that she wouldn’t be on the field.

Now that is comical. The idea that Rose Tyler-Noble would just sit back and let them have all the fun while she watched on a monitor from a safe distance! Even Jamie hadn’t won that argument, and of all people he had every right to want to wrap her in bubble wrap and never let her out of his sight. Who did Fury think he was to keep her out of combat and trapped in a laboratory?

She looks out the tiny portal on her left (at least they had the decency to pay for first class and a window seat, thank you very much S.H.E.I.LD.) and reminds herself that she is a stranger in a strange land. It hadn’t been all that long ago she didn’t even exist here, let alone have any sort of training in combat. It took poor Jake a whole eight months to break her of the habit of just wandering off when she got curious. And even that had taken something drastic.

It usually did. But it had been a close one, if the scar on her shoulder were any indication of exactly how close it had been. She doesn’t need to look at it anymore to remind herself. Though, she is a bit more hearty that she used to be and a whole lot more clever. Still impulsive. That was a trait no man could break. She is still stubborn, still jeopardy friendly, still fearless, and still the first one to stir up trouble.

Her breath makes little clouds on the glass and she realizes she’s not even focusing on anything through this portal anymore. It’s all just an endless unfocused blur of white fluffy things anyway. Nothing special out the window anymore, but the sunrise had been pretty. Something about seeing the sun perk up at 35,000 feet and knowing you were one of the first to see it that day made it a bit more special.

Her thoughts inadvertently turn to the raven haired anomaly that had appeared on her planet not less than twenty-four hours ago. To date no other being, not even the Doctor himself, had gotten that much attention in this Universe. And the fact that an American Organization would send a representative all the way to Cardiff just for her meant it was either the end of the world or they were just really bored and wanted to shake things up a bit. She highly doubts S.H.E.I.L.D is bored.

Before leaving she’d been given as much information as they had on the God, and she’d already memorized it. That sounds more impressive than it is, really. There wasn’t much they knew. His name: Loki of Asgard, a Norse God at that who seemed to have an endless supply of fantastic one liners, but most of all a scepter the likes no one (including her) has ever seen before.

But there was something else that she noted while watching the surveillance footage for a grand total of 242 times: he’s cunning. She surmises it is both his strength and his weakness. She could see it in the way he held his shoulders as he walked: an over confidence at his own greatness. There was no denying his power and his superiority over mankind. He is calculating, cruel and… oddly, rather attractive minus the “I’m going to suck your soul from your body” smile.

Still, there was one thing he wasn’t looking for, the one thing she possessed deep within her. Not all humans were mortal, you know. And not all of them were soft fleshy things that had fleeting life spans.

Rose smirks slightly at that idea. Very few people actually knew what she could wield, and just recently Fury had become one of the Fantastic Five. That thought is sobering, actually. She can’t call it the Fantastic Five anymore because Fury makes it six. The Stupendous Six?

“Oh Gods, no,” she grumbles under her breath at her own stupid joke. The person next to her only snuffles in his sleep, shuffles a bit and then drops off again. It reminds her she should sleep as well. This may be the last chance she would get at any semblance of peace for a few days. She is embarking on a mission of the utmost importance. So much so that her father had suspended her contract with Torchwood until the threat had been isolated. This leaves Jake Simmonds in charge of the Hub and practically all of Torchwood in her absence.

Pete is getting ready to retire. Slowly he began pulling away from the smaller projects, placing the right people in the right places to take on these things. Then he gave her the Hub, making sure she could handle command without needing to check in about everything. When she’d shown that not only could she lead, but that she was damn good at it, Pete began a systematic and bold move to remove himself from the inner workings of Torchwood. Literally the only thing left for him to do is announce his retirement. He’s only coming into the office to keep up appearances. Rose is making all the decisions.

Tony, her little brother, would be taking over Vitex. Of course, Tony is nowhere near ready for that sort of responsibility. He’s only ten, but he’s got the head for business already and it’s clear he’ll take that company far when he’s ready to take over that responsibility. Pete’s retirement from Torchwood is only to afford him more time to work on Vitex and begin his systematic withdrawal from there as well, setting his son up for success.

She doesn’t even realize her eyes are drooping until it’s too late and she’s half asleep. It’s this twilight part of her sleep pattern that began to arise right around the time the Change began to make its presence known. At first she thought it was just lag from Dimension Hopping and nothing more. It wasn’t until two months in that she realized the things she had been seeing in her twilight phase between sleep and awake weren’t just random images generated by a tired mind but predictions.

It had been startling when she literally lived a whole day to utter perfection that she thought had been a dream. She began to take very extensive notes on the things she was seeing in her mind’s eye and only when over twelve of them had been correct predictions down to the way the Doctor would bat his eyelashes when asking to go down into the archives did she finally share this with him.

That’s when they’d realized she wasn’t just Rose anymore. She was something more. The Change had been so subtle she hadn’t even realized it until it was too late. The realization of that was so startling the Meta-crises was certain the only thing to do was send her back. Fights ensued, dramatic upheavals in their not-so-slow-path-anymore-life, frantic make-up sex and desperate pleas to forgive the other for the nasty words they’d said, followed by promises of forever… however long that forever might be.

Turned out that his forever wasn’t as long as it should have been…

And that’s how she ended up on the radar for the entire World’s Top Secret Organizations and why Fury would even think he could use her to begin with. The fact that she’d hopped through dimensions with a device of her own making was simply icing on the cake. The real prize was that she’d single handedly stopped an invasion without having to raise a finger.  

***

_“I was a king! The rightful king of Asgard! Betrayed!”_

_She watches as the raven haired man raves, nostrils flaring._

_“Your ambition is little, born of childish need. We look beyond the Earth to greater worlds the Tesseract will unveil.”_

_A smirk from the fair skinned God. “You don't have the Tesseract yet.”_

_For a moment it looks like there will be a skirmish, but Loki is quick to stop it. “I don't threaten, but until I open the doors, until your force is mine to command, you are but words.”_

_From her observation point in what she could only call the Void (for lack of a better term) she shook her head and murmured, “Bold words…”_

_“You will have your war, Asgardian. If you fail, if the Tesseract is kept from us, there will be no realm, no barren moon, no crevice where he can't find you.” A wicked smile snakes across the deformed face before it utters its final threat. “You think you know pain? He will make you long for something as sweet as pain.”_


	3. She Wanders Off

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Un-beta'd
> 
> Sorry this took so long. It's been sitting here for weeks and I kept thinking I was rushing the chapter along too much. I'm finally just pulling the trigger... Comments appreciated.

Now _this_ was more like it!

She pokes her head out the door and lets her impossibly long hair whip about in the turbulent wind, all the while ignoring the S.H.E.I.L.D. soldier whom is frowning at her recklessness. What does the poor kid know anyway? He probably thinks she’s human, after all! Well, she’s mostly human.

The massive aircraft carrier had just come into view and there is no way she’s going to miss taking in its glory as she comes in. She’d hopped from airplane to an armored SUV to the helicopter upon landing in New York. She actually lets out a _whoop!_  into the open air, amber eyes taking in the Helicarrier glimmering in the sun.

Gods, it’s stunning!

Of course, Rose doesn’t know that the ship is air-worthy yet. All she knows is this is a marvel of mankind’s ingenuity. She’s never seen an aircraft carrier with her own eyes before; which is funny as she had seen the end of universe and all of time and space… so a ship shouldn’t be that exciting.

Oh, but it is!

Her copter lands gently on the runway and before anyone can stop her she’s leaping from the open doors and hopping away to take in the spectacle of it all; all these clever people, not a single one of them unimportant in the running of this vessel and she’s here to witness it all first hand. She can’t remember the last time she’d been this excited.

“Rosie?”

She turns just in time to see the dopey grin of one Tony Stark. If it’s possible for her to smile any bigger she managed it.

“I was hopin’ I’d find you here!” she calls out, taking off at a gallop to her friend. They’d met a few years ago at some charity function they were both attending. They’d gotten on like a house on fire, and adding Jake Simmonds to the mix took them from ridiculous to downright dangerous.

Tony swoops down and wraps her in a bear hug to be rivaled for many years to come, grinning and laughing like a maniac. He spins her several times before planting her back on her feet and pulling away an arm’s length to look her over.

“What the hell are you doing here?” he asks, eyes twinkling.

“I’ve been recruited!” she laughs.

“No!”

“’M not an Avenger,” she assures. “’M a consultant.”

Tony wrinkles his nose at that. “Mine?”

Rose turns serious and eyes him for a moment. “No, I’m your baby sitter. Pepper called,” she says with absolute seriousness.

Tony isn’t quite sure what to make of this information for a moment and it takes him a moment to recognize the mirth twinkling in her eyes. “You almost had me, Rosie,” he finally breaks.

Rose breaks too and pulls him into a hug once more. “Gods, it’s so good t’see a familiar face,” she says as they pull away once more. “I mean, when Fury came t’see me about all this I knew you’d be here, but I was certain we’d never have a chance t’even say hello.”

“Fury came all the way to Cardiff to see you?” he questions, hooking an arm over her shoulder and leading her off toward the entrance of the vessel’s interior. 

“The one and only,” she nods. “I guess it was t’impress the seriousness of the occasion.”

Tony is about to say more when a new arrival gets his attention. “Oh, look who decided to join the fun,” he muses, watching the new vessel float into its landing spot. Rose watches this curiously when a flash of red hair at the corner of her eye catches her attention.

“Is that—”

“Welp, tours over,” Tony cuts her off suddenly beginning to literally pull her away.

“Oi! Wait a mo’!” she says trying to yank herself from his grasp. But Tony’s much bigger than she and even though she could easily fight him off, she doesn’t. “This is very rude, y’know? I ought t’go say hello t’her.”

“Yeah, good luck with that,” Tony says, finally winning out and pulling her along into the ship.

***

They make it to the bridge just in time for her to see the ship take flight. She squeals and runs toward the glass windows to watch. “Why didn’t you tell me this thing could fly?” she asks over her shoulder. She’s directing the question to Stark, but the answer comes from a baritone voice.

“Because it’s a far better surprise.” The voice belongs to Fury, of course. He’s standing stoically at the helm, but Rose thinks she can detect a smirk.

“Hello again, Director Fury,” she greets, crossing the expanse of the bridge to shake his hand.

“Commander Tyler,” he states, accepting her hand and returning the gesture. “Welcome aboard.” He’s quick to replace his hand on the controls and returns his attention to piloting the ship.

“Thank you,” she nods, glancing about the activity. She opens her mouth to say more, but is cut off by female agent.

“We're at lock, sir,” she reports.

“Good,” Fury nods. “Let’s vanish.”

Gaping, Rose watches in awe as the massive airborne ship cloaks itself, effectively vanishing into the open air.

“Ooooh,” she beams at Fury. “Quite clever. Don’t s’pose we could work out a trade of technology, eh? Torchwood could use a cloak.”

“Not a chance,” Fury shakes his head, grinning.

“Didn’t think so,” she beams back.

***

She’s hunched over a monitor when Banner enters the lab. She and Tony are shoulder to shoulder, looking over the surveillance footage from the night Loki entered their universe and she’s pointing at all the things she’d taken note of.

As the doors slide open both she and Tony look up in unison.

“You must be Banner,” Tony says without moving from his position next to Rose.

Rose quirks a brow at Tony’s stance. Is he… protecting her? Sizing up the scientist in question? Her amber eyes fall on the curious man. He seems uncomfortable in his own skin.

“Hello,” she say, a bright smile crashing over her soft features. “I’m Rose and this is Tony. ‘S nice t’meet you at last.” She leaves her place at the monitor to properly greet Banner. After holding out her hand for a few seconds he takes it curiously, she notes he’s not a firm handshake and wonders at it. Tony may have spilled the beans on a lot of the Avengers Initiative, but he hadn’t told her everything. Banner is an anomaly to her.

“Hello,” Banner finally says with a small smile.

“Commander Tyler will be assisting you directly,” Natasha Romanoff interjects from behind Banner. “As well as Mr. Stark. Tyler is not a member of the Avengers, but she is useful in other capacities. Her work in trans-dimensional  travel is unparalleled.”

“Thank you,” Rose beams at Natasha. “You must be Natasha Romanoff. I’ve heard a bit about you.”

“I’m sure you have,” Natasha says eyeing Tony. Tony gives her a smirk and a little wave. “I trust you have all you need here, Dr. Banner. I’ll be on the bridge.” In a whirl of red and black she vanishes from the room, leaving the three companions to begin their work on locating the tesseract.

***

“They got him!” Tony cries excitedly. Rose is by his side in a matter of seconds, watching the bridge feed with curious eyes.

“Is it Loki?” she asks.

“The one and only,” Tony shakes his head. “Looks like their sending the Ice Man after him.”

“That’s not very polite,” Rose reminds her friend. “I could call you heartless, y’know?”

“And you’d be right,” Tony smirks. “Well, I’m not about to let him have all the fun!”

“You’re just gonna go?” Rose asks, turning to watch him walk out the door. Her brown eyes quest for permission to go too, even though she knows it won’t come. Tony is not one of elite that knows her little Bad Wolf secret.

“Look, I’m sure you two’ll have a great time looking for the glowing blue thing, but Gramps is gonna need some back up, you know,” Tony preens. “Someone handsome and quick to make a dramatic entrance, of course.”

“Well, that leave you out then,” she teases.

Tony grins and winks then turns his attention to Banner. “Don’t let her follow,” he says. “She’s got a terrible habit of wandering off.”

“I do not!” Rose calls after him. But Tony is already gone, the laboratory door sliding shut behind him.

For a long moment Rose feels the walls closing in around her. She’s not good in moments like this, when she’s forced to stay behind while her friends (known or unknown) are facing off against the enemy. She cards her fingers through her long blonde hair, exhaling through her nose as she watches the feed on Loki on her monitor. All she wants to do it talk to him right now, see what he wants and what makes him tick. There’s always a reason someone wants control of the planet and at this point she doesn’t think anyone’s figured out what his is yet.

A reason for power mongering is the gateway to their heart strings… to their weakness. And Rose can find it if she’s given just five minutes alone with this man. She can’t take her eyes off him, the way he moves with such purpose and confidence. Raven hair slicked back against his scalp.

She doesn’t even realize she’s drumming her fingers on the console until Banner clears his throat and gets her out of her mind and back into the present.

“Sorry,” she says standing up straight. “I hate bein’ left behind.”

“I used to be like that,” he says with a hint of melancholy and understanding.

They have a silent exchange, two sets of brown eyes studying the other.

“Go on,” he nods at the door. Rose doesn’t move. She’s certain she’s head him incorrectly. “I said go on, Miss Tyler. Quickly before I change my mind.”

“Why?” she asks, shaking her head unbelieving.

“Because birds should not be caged,” he states and she thinks he’s speaking more about himself than about her.

She doesn’t question it anymore. She grabs her discarded leather jacket from the back of her chair and tosses it over her shoulders quickly, digging into the pockets to produce her trump card.

“Oh and Tyler?” Banner says as she’s programming her location into her Vortex Manipulator. She looks up with wide eyes… has he changed his mind? “Give ‘em hell.”

She beams back, finger hovering over the execute button. “Rose,” she says. “Call me Rose.”

“Bruce,” he says with a genuine smile. “Good luck, Rose.”

“You too, Bruce,” she nods, before pushing the button and vanishing in a flash of blue light.


	4. Face to Face With a God

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Un-beta'd
> 
> I felt very writerly and went ahead and posted this one.
> 
> ((Mention of sexual content. Not graphic.))

When traveling via Vortex Manipulator there’s always a chance or two something might go horribly wrong. It’s not really an exact science and how Jack Harkness could do it so well without the modifications she and Jamie had made seemed a mystery in the early days. Then again… her Manipulator wasn’t exactly as solid as Jack’s.

It was built of pieces tossed out of the Rift, so, essentially jerry-rigged with a bit of Time Lord Jiggery Pokery… Jamie had slaved over it for months after they’d moved to Cardiff. She would often find him slumped over the device with those ridiculous jewelers goggles on. The annoying thing about being mostly human was he actually needed those glasses and they weren’t just a sexy accessory to make him look cleverer.

“Rose!” he would say excitedly, perking up the second she would walk into his lab down in the archive. He would then fall into a long-winded lecture about the intrinsic qualities of some bit of metal he’d found on a dusty shelf and how could these humans not know that it was actually from Zotriupra! She would listen, understand about half of it and giggle at the rest, all the while sitting on the edge of his desk, swinging her feet back and forth.

It wasn’t until he finally admitted to himself more than anyone else that their TARDIS wasn’t growing. The time energy just wasn’t right on Pete’s World. That was when he had the brilliant idea to interface the seedling within the manipulator. She wouldn’t be a proper Time Ship, but she was still an eleventh dimensional being, after all, and properly suited to manipulate time space.

That was when things really took off for them both. The plan was to use the Manipulator to travel the universe to find the right parts needed to help her grow properly. It was also important for Rose to learn to bond with the seedling in the same way Jamie had. He was still fully Time Lord in his mind, of course. Their own bonding helped hone Rose’s own touch telepathy.

The look on his face when she first heard his voice in her head was the most beautiful thing she’d ever seen. The moonlight, the way it spilled across one side of his face, the way he moved over her and within her… the sheer ecstasy they both felt at being united in such a tender moment… Making love would never be the same for her after that. It was probably why she never bothered dating after. She’d need much more than physical contact in order to climax and humans wouldn’t be capable of telepathy for a millennia at least.

Unfortunately, that was also the catalyst that awoke Bad Wolf… but that is a story for another time.

The first few test runs of their device were rough. The very first time she tried it she thought her insides were being ripped out through her nose. She’d insisted she go alone, being that she’d already traveled through dimensions with the dismantled dimension canon, she was the most capable person in Torchwood to test run the very first Vortex Manipulator this universe had ever seen. Flopping onto the ground in a heap of pink and yellow in the center of a clearing on the outskirts of Cardiff was less than glamorous. Thankfully, the seedling landed her exactly where she’d wanted to go and was keen enough to protect her without a container.

The Doctor hated it. He hated every single second of the journey, convinced he was dying and Rose would have to go on without him. After an overdramatic episode he realized he was over reacting but refused to use it ever again. That particular trip had taken them to France. And because he was a git about it, it took them three days to return to Cardiff.

After his passing, Rose’s mind was left in shambles with the broken bond and she found herself clinging to the infant TARDIS so that she wouldn’t go completely mad. After the first month, the headaches went away, by the second month she could understand the mental nudges more, and by the third month she could carry on full conversations with the seedling.

Now, she didn’t even have to try anymore. The two of them were like one mind, already knowing what the other needed before even needing to ask. Her jumps became easier, less bumpy, and less stressful on her body too and always landed her exactly where she needed to be. Programming wasn’t even really all that necessary, but Rose found she needed the physical input of fingers on keys in order for it to feel most natural. Half the time she was only typing out messages that could have easily been given as a mental order. So, really, when she tinkered with the manipulator in Banner’s laboratory, the only thing she was telling her TARDIS was, ‘Take me to Loki, please.’

***

When Rose materializes she’s inside the museum on the second floor. She ducks behind a marble column and peers about searching for her target. It doesn’t take her too long to locate him and her breath hitches in her throat.

It’s in the way he moves as he walks down the winding staircase. It’s in the way his eyes scan the room for a target of his own. She won’t reveal her location yet; she means to see what he will do. He is elegant, graceful and horrifying.

She winces as he slams his scepter into an oncoming guard trying to stop him and actually wretches, turning away when he takes his targets eye out. His cruelty is unmatched in the sneer she sees on his face, and yet she finds herself in awe of him. He hasn’t even broken a sweat.

In the chaos that ensues, she slips into the growing crowd, keeping an ever watchful eye on the madman with a scepter. She’s not going to move on him, just yet. She needs time to assess him fully, to ascertain if she can even come close to him long enough to have that talk, how to wiggle her way in just enough to get him to open up.

Wrapped up in the chaos of the crowd, she’s quickly pushed outside in the throng, rather than forward to the raven haired man. But still, even as she’s swept away from him, she can’t tear her eyes away. He wears a smirk on his face that is both beautiful and horrible. It’s a self-assured smirk that seems to speak volumes to his superiority complex. Which can only mean one thing: he has a terribly low self-esteem at heart and he’s hiding behind a fortress of lies to keep anyone from seeing it.

But Rose can see it.

She watches in awe as golden light seems to dance over his entire body, shifting… molding him into something new and not new at the same time; his expensive suit morphs into a sort of Norse-like armour. It is beautiful… even Bad Wolf can’t do something like that!

He leaves the museum like a lion stalking its prey, completely confident in his movements as if he’d planned them from the very beginning of time. A brilliant flash and a police vehicle is hit, overturning and sliding along only to skid to a halt just behind him. And still… she can’t look away from him. He’s just stunning…

She is so taken by his power she doesn’t even realize he’s multiplied until the crowd stops shoving.

“Kneel before me,” his voice seems to ring out.

But in panic, the people do not obey, which only gave him that much more power to roar out, “I said KNEEL!!!”

That, along with the scepter forming a barrier between himself and his duplicates, causes the shouts to die down slowly as the people begin to assume the position. She looks at them all a bit curiously for a moment… is this real life?

“Oh, I don’t think so, mate!” Rose calls back in annoyance. Sarcasm drips from her lips where she remains still standing. Several faces turn to her in both horror and awe. She crosses her arms over her chest and stares him down. Rose Tyler kneels for no man.

That is when two emerald eyes finally hit Rose’s amber and her heart speeds up in her chest. But she keeps her face still, breathing slowly through her nose so as to not betray her tremors.

It does not fool the god. He takes a few moments to study the strange woman that has no fear of him. He can feel something different about her… something far more ancient than a simple human. With a smirk, he decides to humor her for a moment before her death.

“Is not this simpler?” Loki asks her, though he was still addressing the crowd as well.  “Is this not your natural state? It's the unspoken truth of humanity, that you crave subjugation. The bright lure of freedom diminishes your life's joy in a mad scramble for power, for identity. You were made to be ruled. In the end, you will always kneel.”

“Not t’men like you,” Rose replies, sounding as bored with his words as possible. She begins to pick at her nails, though she can still sense his movements. She knows he’s seething internally with aggravation and it’s almost enough to make her grin, but she won’t…

“There are no men like me,” Loki states coolly.

Rose peers at him though the tops of her eyes, still picking at her nails as if she’s bored. “There are always men like you,” she grumbles back, before returning her attention to her nails.

Loki is seething from her defiance, but he’s in enough control of the situation not to allow a pesky blonde to get in his way. “Look to your woman, people,” he gestures grandly, pointing his scepter in her direction. “Let her be an example.”

As quickly as he can fire a shot from his scepter, Rose’s eyes light up with golden energy and she holds up one hand. His energy attack bounces off the palm of her hand as if it were a shield, returning directly to Loki. It hits him dead on and he sprawls to the ground in a stunned heap of green and gold. There is nothing but stunned silence for a moment. Bad Wolf smiles.

“’M sorry, did you say somethin’?” she asks sweetly. She opens her mouth to say more, but she’s quickly silenced when Captain America swoops in before her.

“Tyler?” he asks in shock. “What are you even doing down here?”

“Oh, you must be Steve,” she smiles brightly, her golden energy vanishing. “’Allo!”

“Captain America,” he corrects her.  “You should return to the ship, it is not safe for you.” With that he turns his attention to Loki.

“I have it under control,” she gestures to Loki, whom has already returned to his feet.

“Ah, the soldier,” Loki smirks. “The man out of time.”

“I’m not the one who's out of time,” Steve replies.


	5. Mischief Meets His Match

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Un-beta'd
> 
> \---
> 
> I dunno about the first part of this chapter. Comments appreciated.

“Mama? What is love?”

“Oh my sweet son,” she laughed brightly, scooping the child into her arms and resting him securely on her hip. “That is a very big question for one so small. There are many kinds of love.”

The boy scrunched up his nose in confusion. “Do they have different names?”

“Yes they do,” his mother replied. “The kind of love I have for your father is called pragma. It means I have loved him for a very long time and will continue to love him for a long time more.”

“I do not have pragma for Papa?” he wondered.

“Not as much as I do, my boy,” she answered, bopping his nose. “You have a love known as philia. It is the love shared between a parent and child, or even between brothers.”

“Like Thor,” he beamed back happily.

“Just like Thor,” she answered happily.

“What are the other kinds?” Loki asked bouncing a bit in her arms. He so loved to learn new things.

“I suppose you are old enough,” she agreed, moving to sit in a chair. He was getting almost too heavy to hold. Soon he would be a giant! “There is agape, which is a love of everyone. It is very deep and radical.  I believe you have a deep sense of agape in your heart, Loki.”

Frigga moved to settling him into her lap as the young boy rested his head on her shoulder. “Why?” he asked in a small voice.

“Because you are quite the little radical, are you not?” she teased, ruffling his hair. Loki giggled childishly in her arms. “Then there is Philautia, love of the self. It means you love yourself very much and wish to care for yourself.”

“How do I know if I love myself?”

“It takes time,” she stated. “Sometimes we all hate ourselves, but hate is part of love. To hate yourself for doing something wrong, really means you have a love for which you wish to become. So, it is important to love yourself enough to change your ways.”

“Oh,” Loki said, not quite understanding her wisdom yet.

“But there is another kind of love, my son. One that I hope you will find one day.”

“What is it, Mama?” he looked up to her with wide emerald eyes.

“It is called Eros,” she answered. For now she would glaze over the sexual overtones of this type of love. “It is the kind of love that comes just before pragma. It means your heart is so full of love for one particular person you feel it may explode and all you wish is to spend every day of your life with that one person.”

“But… that is how I feel about you, Mama,” Loki said even more confused than before.

Frigga only laughed brightly at those words. “No, no, dearest Loki,” she said shaking her head while rubbing their noses together. “It is very different if you were to meet a young maiden and feel that sort of devotion to her.”

Loki looked like he might be sick at that idea. “Why would I feel like that over a maiden?”

“You are yet young, my son,” she said without judgement. “In time you will find that your ideas about young women will change. Or you may feel that way for a man as well. It matters not the gender, what matters is your feelings for that one very special individual. And if your feelings are strong enough, you will know it is Eros. You will want to share your love with that person, having children of your own one day and wake up next to every morning. The sun will seem to shine just for that one person.”

“No one will love me like that,” he said sadly, hanging his small head on his shoulders.

“Yes, someone will,” she said firmly.

No, she was wrong. He was certain of it. Thor was the more worthy brother and little baby brother Loki would never match his greatness. Everyone would love Thor and no one would love Loki.

Frigga could see the internal battle within his mind and soothed his hair gently. “Now, now,” she murmured, rocking him gently. “You are not Vanir. You do not have the gift of Sight. Do not fret my youngest son. Someone will love you deeply one day. Of this I am certain, for your heart is precious. And you will love that person more than all the stars in the sky.”

He hoped she was right… He hoped…

***

The hum of the engine all but drowns out the flapping mouth of one Tony Stark. He’s raving, going on and on about how she never listens and she could have been seriously hurt down there. If she didn’t know any better she’d think he was in love with her by the way in which he’s reacting to her little stunt.

“It was foolish, Rose!” Tony shouts. Rose only rolls her eyes and crosses her arms over her chest as she sits next to Loki. The later has not said a word, not that he could get a word in edgewise. “I mean, seriously! What were you thinking? How did you even get there? Why would you put the entire operation at rick, let alone your own life?”

“I had it under control,” she sing-songs back. She can feel the man next to her shift his attention from her to Tony, but she doesn’t turn to make eye contact just yet. She needs to get Tony off her back so that they might be able to speak in semi-privacy.

“Stark, that’s enough,” Steve finally jumps in, pulling him by the shoulder away from their two charges. And finally! It’s bloody quiet.

Rose heaves out a breath through her lips and rests her head back against the wall. “Bloody American git,” she grumbles under her breath and… did Loki just snort? She furrows her brow and peers at him through the corner of her eyes and by the Gods, he’s smirking! It’s small and a bit mischievous but it’s there!

Phase one, complete. Get the man to laugh.

“He’s not always like that,” she continues directly to Loki. “He’s much more charming when ya get him drunk.”

Loki makes no attempt to even look at her. Instead he stares at his feet but it seems more like he’s looking beyond his feet and into some faraway place that only he can see.

“I’m Rose,” she continues, unhindered by his inability to carry on his part of the conversation.

“I gathered,” he states.

She grins and turns a bit, leaning her shoulder against the wall. “You made quite a scene down there, Loki of Asgard,” she says brightly. “What was that all about, hmm? Wake up in the mornin’ with a cravin’ for world domination?”

He does not humor her with a response. He continues to stare at his feet.

“Hey,” she says softly after a long moment of silence. “I ain’t here t’judge you. ‘M here t’listen. Talk t’me, Loki. What’s goin’ on?”

“You would never understand,” he says coldly, fists clenching between his knees.

“You don’t know that,” she shakes her head, keeping her voice soft. “You don’t know the first thing about me, Loki. These people here may be my friends, but I ain’t in their little faction or whatever. What y’say t’me you’d say in confidence.”

  
Loki sighs heavily and sits back, head thumping against the wall of the plane.

“Easy,” she murmurs, instinctively reaching out to steady him.

He flinches away, grabbing her wrist and squeezing. It wasn’t too hard to hurt, but it was enough to get her attention. His nostrils flare and for a split second they lock eyes. He’s wild, studying her as if she were something to fear and loathe. But Rose has nothing but softness in her expression, more filled with concern than anything else.

“I wasn’t gonna hurt you,” she whispers. His grip on her wrist becomes tighter at those words, enough for her to wince just a bit. In that moment she knows he can so easily crush her wrist with how strong he is. It’s enough to make her frightened, but she’s too stubborn for that anymore. They stare into each other’s eyes for a long moment, amber into green; it’s as if time itself has stopped. She wonders what he sees there. “Let go of my wrist, Loki.” Her voice is clear, soft and yet with a hint of a command.

He snatches his hand away abruptly, his upper lip upturning in a sneer as he breaks all contact with her. Rose takes a few moments to rub at the tender flesh with her other hand and notes she’s already beginning to bruise slightly.

With all the changes Bad Wolf made to her body, a few things remained constant. One of them was she would still bruise easily. She never really understood why, but it was one of the reasons Jackie pulled her from the gymnastics team. After practice, she would almost always come home with fresh bruises as if she’d gotten into a fist fight.

And Jimmy simply loved that part of her. How little he actually needed to do to turn her purple…

She shook away the flashback of a similar moment a lifetime ago, tugging her sleeve over her wrist to hide the evidence and turned her eyes back to Loki’s. That motion was not lost on the God, his emerald eye catching it in his periphery. He opens his mouth to say something but is cut off instantly.

“Has he said anything?” Steve butts in, looking to Rose expectantly.

“I think he was about too…” she deadpans.

The two fall into another hushed conversation as the weather outside begins to pick up. There’s a shudder in the flight and Rose actually grabs onto Loki for a moment to keep herself from tumbling out of her seat, her hand gripping his forearm tightly. Loki doesn’t seem to notice, he’s too busy looking around the plane.

“What’s the matter?” Steve teases. “Scared of a little lightning?”

“I’m not overly fond of what follows,” Loki replies.

“What follows?” Rose asks, letting go of his arm.

It’s as if the God of Thunder heard his cue as he crashed through the back of the plane. Before Rose could gather what was happening the big blonde had Loki by the throat, pulling him to his feet and then they’re gone.

“Well, that was dramatic,” she states under her breath. Tony comes up next to her, hooking an arm over her shoulder.

“Now there's that guy,” he grins at Rose. Rose grins back.

“Another Asgardian?” Natasha wonders aloud.

“Think the guy’s a friendly?” Steve asks.

“Doesn’t matter,” Tony replies pulling his helmet on. “If he frees Loki or kills him, the Tesseract’s Lost. Come on, Rose.”

“I thought I was too jeopardy friendly,” Rose teases, crossing her arms over her chest. “Puttin’ the whole operation at risk and all that.”

“You distracted Loki well enough,” Tony smirks under his mask. “Might need you to do it again.”

“You’re on!”

“Stark, we need a plan of attack!” Steve retorts.

“I have a plan,” Tony states. “I attack, Rose keeps an eye on Reindeer Games. How’d you get down there anyway, Rose?”

“My secret,” Rose beams, pushing the button on her Manipulator and vanishing in a plume of blue.

“Crazy woman…” Tony chuckles shaking his head. With that, he leaps from the back of the plane and heads down… down… down…


	6. Sticks and Stones

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> First of all, I'm really sorry for the amount of down-time between chapters. I was recently promoted to a full-time position at work and it's been keeping me busy. I also have a few other projects I'm working on outside of this fic, so it took a spot on the back burner. I'm hoping that chapters can come faster now that things are sort of settling down. 
> 
> This chapter, as with the others, has gone un-beta'd.
> 
> Comments are always appreciated!

Sticks and Stones

When Rose rematerializes, she is already hidden behind a large bolder and quickly ducks to avoid a few scattered rocks from clobbering her in the head from the blunt force of two Asgardian Gods coming to blows.

“Where is the Tesseract?” the big blonde growls

“I missed you too,” Loki chuckles.

“Do I look to be in a gaming mood?”

Rose chances a glance over her shelter to watch the conversation, taking note of the two brothers. That explains quite a bit to the not-so-much-human-anymore. She can’t help but smirk a little at Loki’s reaction to his brother. It reminds her of the times she and Tony used to argue, sometimes they still do… Tony, her brother, has a very good sense of sarcasm. But the argument she is witness to is telling. So much baggage carried between the two of them. This is information she would not have gotten had they been aware of her presence. How long lived were these creatures and how long had Loki seemed to suffer? In addition to this, how much of this is perceived suffering and how much is true?

“So you take the world I love as recompense for your imagined slights,” Thor growls. “No, the Earth is under my protection, Loki.”

Rose peaks over the bolder once more and for the very briefest of moments she thinks she sees something akin to pain flash over Loki’s face. The argument of ‘imagined slights’ is a deep wound, she surmises. To Thor, perhaps Loki has imagined everything but to Loki it is all too real and that brief tell is all she needs to understand the God. He has Stockholm Syndrome. Something she knows all too well. And now, they have something in common.

But the moment passes too quickly and he’s scoffing once more. “And you're doing a marvelous job with that,” the raven haired man smirks. Rose can’t disagree with that statement, either. Thor is no protector she’s ever known. Where was he when the aliens came? Not in England, that’s for sure.

“I mean to rule them!” Loki continues. “And why should I not?”

“You think yourself above them?” Thor retorts.

“Well, yes,” Loki seems to shrug as if it’s obvious.

“Then you miss the truth of ruling, brother,” the blonde warrior speaks with a hint of sadness in his voice. “Throne would suit you ill.”

And then the dam breaks. With a fury Rose has not quite seen yet, the smaller man throws his brother aside and stalks up the ledge. Rose has to duck behind her rock once more to remain hidden but she can see Loki’s profile next to her. If he were to but look to his left her refuge would be discovered. Fortunately for her, Loki turns to his right to look back at Thor.

“I've seen worlds you've never known about!” he growls. “I have grown, Odinson, in my exile! I have seen the true power of the Tesseract, and when I wield it...”

“Who showed you this power?” Thor growls back. “Who controls the would-be-king?”

“I am a king,” Loki snarls. Oh, how both fear and sorrow crash through Rose’s heart. The sheer vulnerability she can hear in both their ragged voices. This is an argument that has been had for centuries and it’s so obvious to her it makes her both shiver in fear and wish to cry.

“Not here!” Thor replies, a hint of softness in his voice. “You give up the Tesseract! You give up this poisonous dream! You come home.”

There is a brief pause in their conversation and Rose chances a glance at the would-be-king to see his reaction to the idea of letting go and returning home. There is a mask upon his expression and not for the first time, she wishes she could read him better. What is behind those eyes? What is in his thoughts?

“I don’t have it,” Loki answers. And that answer is the most telling of them all to her. There is a double meaning to his words. He does not have the Tesseract and he does not have a home. Neither does she… They are homeless together, she and this raven haired madman.

“You need the cube to bring me home,” Loki supplies more information, “but I've sent it off I know not where.”

A swift breeze blows past the blonde woman and suddenly a large hammer, larger than she’s ever seen in any of her travels appears in Thor’s hand, hovering over Loki. “You listen well, brother…” he begins and is instantly cut off as Tony Stark sails past and collides with Thor. The two of them, limbs akimbo, vanish in a plume of dust and wind.

“I’m listening…” Loki says to the open air. Rose has to suppress a giggle at his sarcasm.

Properly alone with him on the cliff face, she watches him to see what his next move might be. The God watches the two sail through the air for a moment before turning. He is about to wander off into the woods when he comes face-to-face with Rose, who is now standing.

“I wouldn’t go this way, mate,” she says with a bright smile. “There’s bears in these woods!”

“You!” Loki growls, rolling his eyes in annoyance. She thinks he’s about to unleash a slew of insults when his eyes widen just slightly with realization. “How long have you been eavesdropping?”

“I ain’t been dropping no eaves,” Rose retorts, and yes she is aware she’s quoting Samwise Gamgee. She’s always wanted to use that line. “’S hard t’drop eaves on a conversation that consists of yellin’.”

Loki is not impressed with her response. In fact, it seems to rile him up that much more. He grabs her by the forearm and tugs her to him, holding her firmly and harshly. He gives her whole body one small shake. “What did you hear, puny human? Speak!”

The shake he gives her is enough to awaken her inner power and her eyes glow bright gold with both fury and command. “I don’t like bein’ shook,” she states, her voice ringing like bells on the wind. “Unhand me you foolish Frost Giant! You know not what I am!”

Loki, not to allow himself to be caught in awe or wonder, scoffs. Though, deep down, he feels a pull of something more. Curiosity. He has been told of wondrous beings of gold that scattered time and space in myths and legends. Could this woman hold that treasure? Perhaps he could use her to his advantage.

“What know you of Frost Giants, woman?” he wonders, not letting go her arm.

Rose’s free hand reaches to his temple, resting there for a moment before Loki felt what he can only describe as a knock on a door. But the door is in his mind and it left him in more wonder than he cares to admit.

“You are in my mind,” he spoke softly, threateningly. He did not like the feeling of someone else in his most private of places.

“I am asking permission,” she answers in a soft voice, a bit more like herself than her entity. “I wouldn’t enter without permission.”

“You do not have it!” Loki snaps, shoving her away. He shoves her with such force that Rose is sent sailing back into the rock face behind her. Her tiny body slams into it and for a brief moment, stars dance before her eyes. She loses all sense of her Time Goddess and once more, the woman Rose is in control of both her mind and body.

“Well that was uncalled for!” she says loudly, masking the pain that ran through her body. That will be the third bruise this man had given her in as many hours.

“My mind is not a plaything for an Earth Woman!” Loki snarls angrily.

“I ain’t from Earth, ya plum!” Rose shouts, dusting a bit of debris from her back. “Weeelll, not completely. I guess ‘m sorta from Earth. I ain’t from this Earth, how’s that?”

Loki is about to ask for more clarification when a loud crash comes from behind them. Loki turns just in time to see Tony Stark on his back and Mjölnir flying back to Thor’s hand. As much as Loki despises his brother, he can’t help but smirk in amusement as the warrior puts the man of iron in his place.

Rose comes up behind him and watches over his shoulder as the two warriors battle in the woods below. They stand together in silence as the scene plays out for a few moments. Each one giving a decent blow to the other before Rose breaks the silence between them.

“Is your brother always like that?” she asks, with a playful quirk of the brow. Loki looks over his shoulder at her for clarification.

“Expand?” Loki prompts.

“Sorta…” Rose begins and takes the stance of a warrior woman, flexing mighty muscles. She makes the sound of grunting as she does so, using her body language to speak for her when words fail. She’s surprised when Loki actually chuckles, a real amused smile on his face.

“Yes,” he nods. “He has always been such a warrior.”

“But you haven’t been?” Rose asks, but it sounds much more like a statement.

Loki sighs and his eyes drop to the ground for a moment before he returns his watchful gaze on the fight below. But his words are directed at Rose, his head cocked just enough to let his voice flutter into her ears. “I was a different child of the court,” he answers.

“And ya watched from the sidelines while he was loved and adored,” she supplements when he speaks no more. Her eyes are not on the fight below at all, but on that of Loki’s face in profile. She’s looking for a tell, looking for him to answer her not in words but in a gesture.

Loki is still, giving little away to the curious woman. It’s a moment or two more before he closes his eyes and sighs. “You do not know the half of it, child,” he speaks sounding older than he ever has before.

Rose swallows over a lump in her throat. That answer tells her more than all the words he doesn’t speak. Instinctively, she places a hand on his shoulder. Loki responds by turning to look at her hand for a long moment, as if he is trying to decide if the contact is acceptable. When he doesn’t pull away from her, his eyes rake upwards and for the first time on this cliff they lock their gaze with full understanding of one another.

“It don’t have t’define you,” Rose murmurs. “’S your actions now that can. Only you can decide how ya wanna be remembered. An’ it never too late for a second chance.”

In the stillness between them, Loki’s poker face gives nothing away. He is so still Rose begins to wonder if he’s even real anymore. Finally, he blinks and a look of utter boredom comes over his face. His eyes are no longer open to her, as if he’s shutting himself off from her words. Perhaps there are two Loki’s she is dealing with.

Loki turns away from her, shrugging her hand from his shoulder. “It is far too late for me,” he spoke dully. There would be no redemption for him. No parade of homecoming for the fallen prince. He had made his bed long ago and this was the path he must walk.

With the tender moment broken, it’s almost like Steve Rogers knew it was his cue to come in. His voice rings true and righteous through the night air. “Hey! That’s enough!”

Rose lets a small groan of annoyance fall from her lips. “He thinks he’s so impressive,” she mutters to Loki. Loki actually chuckles at that and can’t disagree.

“Now, I don’t know what you plan on doing here,” Steve beings.

“I've come here to put an end to Loki's schemes!” Thor interrupts.

“Then prove it!” Steve challenges. “Put the hammer down.”

“Oh no,” Loki mutters.

“What?” Rose asks.

“We should get down,” Loki replies, pulling Rose with him behind her former rock refuge.

“Why?” she asks following him, not that she had much choice in the matter. Even when he wasn’t grasping her with all his might, he was still too strong to pull away from. Loki says nothing as he kneels down and brings her along.

“Um, yeah, no! Bad call!” Tony Stark tries to interject. “He loves his hammer!”

Just as Thor backhands Tony with Mjolnir, Loki has one arm around Rose’s shoulders as he peeks over the rock with her.

“Because,” Loki answers her quietly. “He is about to put his hammer down.”

“You want me to put the hammer down?” Thor asks the Captain.

“And that’s bad?” Rose asks, watching Loki intently. Loki looks Rose directly in the eyes with a slight smile on his lips.

“Only for those that are not prepared for it,” Loki answers. Rose’s mouth forms a soundless, ‘oh’ as she nods her understanding. In unison, as if they were aware of each other’s movements before doing so, Loki and Rose turn to watch, just in time to see Thor’s hammer descend upon Steve’s shield. Loki is quick to duck their heads just in time.

A massive shockwave bowls over them and would certainly have knocked her on her arse if Loki had not pulled her into shelter. The silence that follows is deafening. Rose realizes that Loki, for whatever reason, has decided to shield her from the blast. His entire body is practically curled around her own. For a moment neither of them move and then, once more in unison, they peak over the rock together to see Steve Rogers unharmed.

“Are we done here?” Steve asks, doing his best to sound unimpressed.

This time, it’s Loki that grumbles in annoyance. “Is he always like that?” he asks Rose.

“I dunno,” she answers honestly. “Just met him t’day.”

***

Fury stands with his back to her. He’s looking out a massive window at the sky as the sun begins to turn the night from violet to a bright celestial shade of blue. She’s in for it now. Nick Fury is silently seething and the tension in the room could be cut like a knife through cheesecake.

“Do you have any idea what you could have done down there, Tyler?” Fury finally asks, his voice even as if he’s carefully trying to keep his cool.

“Yea,” Rose replies simply. “Which is why I went.”

Fury sighs and whirls around in a flurry of fabric. “You could have ruined the entire mission! No one knew you were down there! You could have been killed and no one would have known to look for you!”

“But I wasn’t,” she retorts. “And I didn’t. And, in fact, I think I did quite a bit of good in spite of it, Director. While your men were too busy bein’ impressive, I kept Loki from slipping off inta the woods!”

“That is not the point!” Fury yells, slamming his fist into the table before him.

“Then what is?” Rose challenges, standing up and adapting his stance. “What are ya more cross about, eh? That I went down an’ didn’t say anythin’ or that I disobeyed an order? I don’t work for ya, Nick Fury! And what’s more, you _knew_ what you was getting’ inta when ya brought me along!”

They stare each other down for a long moment of silence. Neither one of them giving away that they might be wrong in their assessment of the situation.

“There’s a reason ya asked for me, Nick,” Rose continues, her voice a bit softer this time. “Ya need someone unpredictable. Someone that ain’t gonna take your shite and someone that won’t sit back and let it happen. There’s a reason there ain’t been a full on alien invasion of this planet, and that reason’s me. So either ya let me do what I do best, or I’ll head back t’Cardiff an’ let you and your precious Avengers flounder in the face of imminent destruction. Look at your team, you git! They’re so set on each one bein’ more impressive than the last that they can’t agree on a bloody thing. And it’ll only get worse if ya keep lettin’ ‘em work as individuals and not as a team. I just so happen t’have plenty of experience takin’ would-be vigilantes and turnin’ ‘em inta soldiers. I don’t think you’re cross at me at all. I think you’re cross that your team managed t’flatten a forest while fightin’ the wrong bloody God!”

Her words affect Fury more than he’d like to admit. With a heavy sigh, he straightens, his arms falling to his sides. “As punishment for disobeying a direct order, you are going to be under the direct supervision of Captain America,” he states. “You are not a member of the Avengers, but if Cap says you can go along, then you may. He’s now the only chance you have of seeing the outside of this ship until this mission is over.”

Rose straightens as well, crossing her arms over her chest and nods. “Fine,” she deadpans. “But, Cap ain’t my boss neither. An’ if I don’t like a thing, I’ll tell him.”

“Fine,” Fury agrees. “Now, back to the lab with you, Rose Tyler-Noble, before I change my mind and put you in the cage with Loki.”

Rose smirks at that. “Oh, Director,” she teases with her tongue-touched smile. “Don’t promise a girl a good time.” With that, she leaves the room with a wicked grin on her lips.


	7. Who's Your Captive Now?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For all you wonderful and loyal readers, here's two chapters in a day for being so kind and patient. I can't promise that every day will be like this, or when the next one might come out, but today was a good day for me. 
> 
> This is a long one, but all of it's important to get through. 
> 
> Once again, this chapter is un-beta'd.

Who’s Your Captive Now?

He is led through the hallways in chains, but the look on his face is not that of a man that is suffering. In fact, he seems to almost enjoy this attention. The smug satisfaction on his face is an indication that he finds all of this rather humorous and not at all a problem he can’t deal with in time.

How little these humans seemed to understand that this had always been his plan. He needed to be on the inside, keeping them occupied while his minions went out their mission. With these foolish mortals paying attention to him, they would not be looking outside their periphery to find anything else out of whack.

As they turn a corner, Loki is greeted by the sight of his beloved scepter and his trump card. Locked away in the labs, there stands Banner, a monster that cannot be contained by conventional matters. His smile seems to brighten just slightly as the two of them catch each other’s gaze. But what Loki is not expecting to see is his Goddess.

Rose stands next to Banner and looks up when he does. For a moment, Loki doesn’t give her the time of day, far too interested in Banner’s expression. But then, something hits him… that woman is intuitive. And she is an unknown as well. She could be Plan B.

As he tears his eyes from Banner, he’s once more sucked into the warm amber of her iris’s. It irks him the peace he feels when he’s looking at her. He does not like the feelings that are stirring in forgotten halls of his heart. Why should she be so interested in his well-being or his thoughts? From the moment he met her, she seemed to be both surprising and supportive, while not allowing him to treat her as if she were inferior.

The smirk he wore turned to a genuine smile at Rose of its own accord and inwardly he scolded himself for allowing it. It was as if she were breaking through to an inner level he’d long locked away. A jab between his shoulder blades pulled in from his inner monologue and make him uncomfortably aware that he’d slowed in his pace. What was happening to him?

 _Sentiment!_ he scolded himself as he growled low toward his guard.

The lab vanished behind him and he’s once more back in control of himself. Isn’t he? Of course he is! Loki is always in control. He knows exactly what he’s going and he cannot, will not, let a puny human get in his way. She’s simply a new obstacle to overcome and a tool to use as he so chooses.

Finally locked in his glass cage, Loki is released from his chains and he is left to stalk the perimeter like a lion. He knows he won’t find a weakness, for this cage was not meant for him. It is also not going to be a place he resides for very long. He has a few tricks up his sleeve. For now, he’ll be content in letting the Avenger’s believe they have him right where they want him.

So, it’s no shock to him when a that of Nick Fury is sauntering up the ramp and staring right at him. He already knows that this communication is not private, for it will be broadcast to everyone on board as if he were there merely for their entertainment.

“In case it's unclear,” Fury begins, sounding cool in his words. “You try to escape. You so much as scratch that glass…” A button is pushed and a chasm yawns open beneath the glass casing. A mighty wind bellows it’s wrath from beneath and sends all manner of attire outside the glass case a flutter. “Thirty thousand feet, straight down in a steel trap. You get how that works?!” Feeling he’s made his point, Fury closes the hatch below and the room is once more silent from the howling winds. “Ant,” Fury points at Loki, then to the button “Boot.” He’s thrown Loki’s own words back at him.

Of course, Loki is not even the least bit impressed, nor concerned.

“It's an impressive cage,” Loki smirks. “Not built, I think, for me.”

“Built for something a lot stronger than you,” Fury confirms with a nod.

“Oh, I've heard,” Loki speaks, looking directly into a camera at his right. Deep in the labs, both Rose and Banner are captivated by the conversation. Neither of them knew such a place existed on this vessel and Rose can almost feel Banner’s nerves as he breathes in deeply to keep himself under control. It is as if Loki knows they are both there watching. Perhaps he can see through the walls and is seeing them with his own eyes.

“The mindless beast, makes play he's still a man,” Loki continues. “And the woman with Time in her veins.” He turns back to Fury with an expression of contempt. “How desperate are you, that you call upon such lost creatures to defend you?”

“How desperate am I?” Fury questions. “You threaten my world with war. You steal a force you can't hope to control. You talk about peace and you kill `cause it's fun. You have made me very desperate. You might not be glad that you did.”

“Ooh,” Loki croons. “It burns you to come so close. To have the Tesseract, to have power, unlimited power. And for what? A warm light for all mankind to share, and then to be reminded what real power is.”

Nick Fury only smiles, knowing that this round he has won. “Well, you let me know if Real Power wants a magazine or something.”

***

She is standing at the door, her arms in their favorite place, crossed over her chest and she’s leaning her hip and shoulder against the door frame while they replay is observed. She doesn’t know why they’ve insisted on watching it again. Everyone saw this play out in real-time not an hour ago. But, it’s not her place to speak yet. She is here simply to observe. Cap made that imperatively and painfully obvious. When she’s not in the Lab with Bruce, she’s basically tied to Steve at the hip.

Rose doesn’t really dislike Steve, but she doesn’t really _like_ him either. He’s just sort of there and mostly in her way. Not to mention, he has zero idea how valuable she can be to his operation. He’s so set in his old ways he can’t see the forest for the trees. And no, he won’t hear it even if she tries to tell him that there was other tree’s in the room much wiser and older.

She spends her time watching and observing the various reactions to Loki’s words. What strikes her the most is that each one of these people in the room seems to not want to give away their personal feelings of trepidation. It’s as if they still all wish to be a leader of their team, but none are willing to yield long enough to be human. That’s their biggest flaw, she feels. A leader can’t be made of steel. A leader must be human first and steel second.

“He really grows on you, doesn’t he?” Bruce speaks first. Rose giggles softly at that, causing a few curious looks to cross the room in her direction.

“Loki's gonna drag this out,” Steve chimes in, trying to assume the role of leader. “So, Thor, what's his play?”

Thor seems to almost start out of his silent reverie before answering. “He has an army called the Chitauri. They're not of Asgard or any world known. He means to lead them against your people. They will win him the earth. In return, I suspect, for the Tesseract.”

“An army?” Steve asks seriously. “From outer space?”

“It ain’t that unhead of, Cap,” Rose says. “As the human race grows and learns the inner workin’s of the Universe, we’ll get more an’ more attention drawn towards us. An’ this ain’t the first alien army that’s tried t’come here t’enslave us. It won’t be the last, neither.”

“So he's building another portal,” Bruce continues, nodding at Rose. “That's what he needs Erik Selvig for. And that’s why Rose is here with us.”

“Selvig?” Thor wonders, brows furrowing slightly.

“He’s an astrophysicist,” Rose supplements.

“He's a friend,” Thor nods his understanding.

“Loki has him under some kind of spell,” Natasha picks up. “Along with one of ours.”

“I wanna know why Loki let us take him,” Steve ponders. “He's not leading an army from here.”

“I don't think we should be focusing on Loki,” Bruce says as Rose moves to stand next to him.

“I agree,” Rose nods. “We’ve got ‘im outta the equation for a mo, so let’s cast our eyes elsewhere, eh?”

“That guy's brain is a bag full of cats anyway,” Bruce teases at Rose.  “You could smell crazy on him.”

“Have care how you speak,” Thor speaks up in defense of his brother. “Loki is beyond reason, but he is of Asgard, and he's my brother.”

“He killed eighty people in two days!” Natasha scolds.

“He's adopted,” Thor relents.

“Oi! That’s hardly the point!” Rose scolds the whole room. “He’s still a breathin’ person and until we know what really motivates ‘im we ought t’be aware enough that he’s in our care!”

“Iridium!” Bruce blurts out before anyone can disagree with Rose. Though there is a silent exchange between her and Thor, one that speaks volumes without a single utterance. They both want what’s best for Loki and to see him unharmed.

“Excuse me?” Steve inquires.

“What did they need the Iridium for?” Bruce asks, looking at Rose for help.

“It's a stabilizing agent,” Tony answers as he strolls in with Paul Coulson in tow. “Means the portal won't collapse on itself, like it did at SHIELD.” He smirks at Thor good-naturedly. “No hard feelings, Point Break. You've got a mean swing. Also! It means the portal can open as wide, and stay open as long, as Loki wants.”

Rose smirks, chuckling as Tony plays a game at the front of the room, as though he were Director Fury. This is why the two of them get along so well. He’s the comic relief and she’s the laugh track as it were. While the rest of the party is stone face, Rose takes delight in her friend. He may be a bit over the top, and he may be a bit of a pill to swallow, but he means well. He would make a fine leader, were he willing to take that role. The team that laughs together is the strongest.

But there’s reason to his antics and even Rose doesn’t notice him place a hacking device under the control panel. “The rest of the raw materials, Agent Barton can get his hands on pretty easily,” Tony continues on. “Only major component he still needs is a power source. A high energy density, something to kick start the cube.”

“When did you become an expert in thermonuclear astrophysics?” Rose teases.

“Last night,” Tony winks back at her. “The packet, Selvig's notes the Extraction Theory papers. Am I the only one who did the reading?”

“Does Loki need any particular kind of power source?” Steve asked, not answering Tony’s game.

“He's got to heat the cube to a Hundred and twenty million Kelvin just to break through the Coulomb barrier,” Bruce adds.

“Unless, Selvig has figured out how to stabilize the quantum tunneling effect,” Rose chimes in, pointing at Tony.

“Well, if he could do that he could achieve Heavy Ion Fusion at any reactor on the planet,” Bruce responds.

“Finally, someone who speaks English!” Tony beams at Bruce.

“Oi!” Rose huffs playfully.

“Sorry, Rosie,” Tony winks once more. “But I’ve never had trouble talking to you.”

The three companions all smile at one another, a mutual respect for their own minds at work is clear in their expressions.

 “Is that what just happened?” Steve tries to regain control of the conversation.

“It's good to work with you, Dr. Banner,” Tony speaks honestly. “You're work on anti-electron collisions is unparalleled. And I'm a huge fan of the way you lose control and turn into an enormous green rage monster.”

“Be nice,” Rose says, poking Tony directly in his reactor.

“Thanks,” Bruce responds sheepishly, but the humor is not completely lost.

“Dr. Banner and Miss Tyler-Noble are only here to track the cube,” Fury breaks the jubilation as he enters the room.

 “Let's start with that stick of his,” Steve says. “It may be magical, but it works an awful lot like a HYDRA weapon.”

“I don't know about that, but it is powered by the cube,” Fury states. “And I'd like to know how Loki used it to turn two of the sharpest men I know into his personal flying monkeys.”

“Monkeys?” Thor asks in confusion. “I do not understand.”

“I do! I understood that reference!” Steve says overly proud of himself. Rose giggles at Cap while Tony rolls his eyes.

“Shall we play, doctor?” Tony asks Bruce. “Lady Commander?”

The twinkle of game is in all three sets of eyes as they look at one another in silent understanding. They’ve already had some good times, but now they have real purpose and comradery.

“Let’s play some,” Bruce grins.

***

The following hour or more goes by in almost silence, with bits of intermitted conversation. Tony is elbows deep in equations and algorithms, while Bruce is observing the scepter. Rose, for her part, has her own work on Loki’s portal.

Bent over her console, she has two windows open. One in which she is calculating different parameters of his portal, the other a direct camera feed into Loki in his cell. It’s a mistake to keep such a watchful eye on him. She finds him distracting. She can’t stop herself from glancing at the small square in the upper left hand corner of her screen almost every 45 seconds.

She still cannot explain what it is about him that has her so captivated. He isn’t even doing anything that interesting. He is sitting in the center of the glass cage staring seemingly at nothing at all. She’s only too aware she’s keeping a vigil over him in his captivity. As if she were some sort of absent protector. But a protector from what?

When she’s not being pulled one way or another, she’s got one eye on him at all times. She wants to miss nothing of his time in her world and that in and of itself is unsettling. Even her first Weevil didn’t get this much attention, and she was pretty well aware of its every move.

Rose tears her attention back to her work, willing herself to stop looking at the God. He’s not helping! She ought to just close the damned window so she can focus, but every time she hovers her mouse over that little x in the corner, she hesitates and finally relents. Ten more minutes and if he still doesn’t move, she’ll close the window!

She dives back into her work, forcing herself not to glance up and the window in the corner of her screen. The readings that came off his portal at SHEILD are unlike anything she’s ever seen. Even her Vortex Manipulator doesn’t do what he’s done.

The workings of her manipulator are inherently different than any other in existence. While Jack Harkness’s moved _him_ , hers moves time and space around her and she stays still. It helps that there’s that tiny bit of TARDIS in there that creates a bubble of protection around her. The Seedling also closes and heals any rips or tears she leaves in her wake, but opening and closing wormholes at the same time. Indeed, Rose’s method of travel is unlike anything Pete’s World has ever seen and will never be able to repeat.

Loki’s portal is destructive. It has no intelligence behind it at all. It’s simply ripping the fabric of space and time with no regard for putting it back together. It leaves gaping wounds in its wake and soft spots that are ripe for infection. Before she gives herself a chance to look at the window where Loki is sitting, she sends an e-mail to Jake to look into these rips and see what he and the team back at Cardiff can do about the damage. It’s better to be safe than sorry, and since none of the Avengers are looking for any lasting damage from Loki’s shenanigans, it’s clearly up to her to clean up.

As she hits the send button, the e-mail window closes and she can’t help be come face to face with the window that holds her view of Loki’s chamber. What she sees nearly makes her gasp. He’s moved. But not just a little bit, he’s not standing, leaning one arm against the glass and staring directly into the camera as if he knows she’s been watching him.

Her heart rate skyrockets out of control as she stares at the screen. He’s so still he could be a cardboard cut-out of himself. She begins to lose track of how much time passes while they seemingly gaze at one another. What is it that has made the God move? Could he have truly been aware that she’s been watching him for hours? And why has this sudden staring contest made her react in such a way that she’s almost panicking.

What happens next literally takes the breath right out of her lungs. Loki’s mouth forms a soundless, “Rose…” She’s had the volume down on his live feed just in case there was a conversation in his cell. She didn’t want her friends to know she’s been watching Loki like a hawk. So, if he actually spoke her name aloud or not is lost to her. But it’s unmistakable that he’s called to her directly.

_He knows!_

“Rose?”

She jumps out of her trance to see Tony staring at her in concern.

“You okay, Rosie?” he asks.

Rose blinks a few times, catching her breath.

“Yea, ‘m fine,” she manages to find her voice.

Tony’s about to ask if she’s sure but Bruce speaks up.

“The gamma readings are definitely consistent with Selvig's reports on the Tesseract,” Bruce says as he observes another set of equations. “But it's gonna take weeks to process.”

Rose glances back to her read-out screen and sees that Loki is back in his sit at the center of the cell, no longer looking at the screen. Had she imagined the entire thing?

“If we bypass their mainframe and direct a reroute to the Homer cluster, we can clock this around six hundred teraflops,” Tony offers.

“All I packed was a tooth brush,” Bruce jokes.

“I’ve a sonic screwdriver!” Rose adds as she finally finds the courage to close the window that looked into Loki’s cell. She stands and stretches her tired muscles and decides she’ll need to check the surveillance feed later to make sure she wasn’t imagining things.

Tony smiles at the two of them. “You know, you two should come by Stark Towers sometime,” he invites. Top ten floors, all R&D. You'd love it, it's candy land.”

“Thanks, but the last time I was in New York I kind of broke...Harlem,” Bruce grins.

“Aww, it wasn’t as bad as ya think,” Rose says, patting Bruce on the shoulder. “Ya only slightly dented it.”

“And Rosie would know,” Tony nods his head. “She’s seen the end of the Earth.”

“It wasn’t by a Green Angry Guy, was it?” Bruce wonders.

“Nah,” she shakes her head. “Was the sun expandin’.”

“Ah, of course,” Bruce nods.

While Rose had Bruce distracted, Tony zaps him with an electric probe just as Steve wonders in through the front door. Rose hides her annoyance. He’s probably come to check up on her.

“Ow!” Bruce jumps.

“Nothing?” Tony blinks in surprise.

“Hey!” Steve scolds. “Are you nuts?”

Rose flashes Steve a harsh glance.

“You really have got a lid on it, haven't you?” Tony states in wonder. “What's your secret? Mellow jazz? Bongo drums? Huge bag of weed?”

“Is everything a joke to you?” Steve scolds, ignoring Rose’s sour glare.

“Funny things are,” Tony shrugs.

“Threatening the safety of everyone on this ship isn't funny,” Steve frowns. Rose clears her throat loudly, shaking Steve’s morals. “No offense, doctor.”

“No, it's alright,” Bruce says, patting Rose’s arm in thanks. “I wouldn't have come aboard if I couldn't handle pointy things.”

Rose gives Bruce a soft smile at that. She wishes he wouldn’t have to be so afraid of himself.

  “You're tiptoeing, big man. You need to strut,” Tony says taking the words right out of Rose’s mind.

“And you need to focus on the problem, Mr. Stark,” Steve rolls his eyes at that.

“You think I'm not?” Tony asks offended. “Why did Fury call us and why now? Why not before? What isn't he telling us? I can't do the equation unless I have all the variables.”

“You think Fury's hiding something?” Steve asks.

“You don’t?” Rose responds.

“He's a spy. Captain, he's the spy,” Tony continues. “His secrets have secrets. It's bugging him too, isn't it?”

Bruce is suddenly aware he’s been thrown under the bus and instantly mutters under his breath, “Uh...I just wanna finish my work here and...”

“Doctor?” Steve prompts, trying to get Bruce to speak up.

There’s a beat, where Bruce is clearly trying to decide if he should speak up. He glances at Rose, knowing her moral barometer would tell him if it was alright to be open. She nods her encouragement.

“'A warm light for all mankind’,” Banner quotes finally. “Loki's jab at Fury about the cube.

“I heard it,” Steve nods, but sounds unaverred.

“Well, I think that was meant for you,” Bruce says pointing at Tony. “Even if Barton didn't post that all over the news.”

 

“The Stark Tower? That big ugly…” Steve begins and once more, Rose clears her throat even louder than before.

“Be polite,” she sing-songs under her breath.

“...building in New York?” Steve corrects.

“It's powered by Stark Reactors,” Bruce explains. Self-sustaining energy source. That building will run itself for what, a year?”

“That's just the prototype,” Tony clarifies. “I'm kind of the only name in clean energy right now.”

“So, why didn't SHIELD bring him in on the Tesseract project?” Bruce asks. “Or Rose for that matter? Between the two of them you have self-sustaining energy and the world’s leading expert in alien activity. I mean, what are they doing in the energy business in the first place?”

“I should probably look into that once my decryption programmer finishes breaking into all of SHIELD's secure files,” Tony admits.

“I'm sorry, did you say...?” Steve blinks at Tony.

“You aren’t,” Rose scolds gently.

“Jarvis has been running it since I hit the bridge,” Tony tells her. “In a few hours we'll know every dirty secret SHIELD has ever tried to hide. Blueberry?”

Rose doesn’t take any of the offered berries. Rather, she pinches the bridge of her nose in annoyance. “Really, Tony?” she asks. “This ain’t how ya make friends! Did ya do that t’Torchwood too?”

“Of course I did!” Tony shrugs. “What’s the big deal? You didn’t have any dirty secrets that I could find. You run a legit operation over there.”

Rose only gapes at him in utter incredulity. “Ya could’ve asked, ya git!” she says in shock. “I woulda shared! Now I gotta worry ‘bout how vulnerable my entire infrastructure is!”

“Yet you're confused about why they didn't want you around?” Steve shakes his head.

“An intelligence organization that fears intelligence?” Tony jabs. “Historically, not possible.”

“I think Loki's trying to wind us up,” Steve states. “This is a man who means to start a war, and if we don't stay focused, he'll succeed. We have orders, we should follow them.”

“As much as it pains me t’do this,” Rose begins,” I gotta agree with Cap. Loki wants us t’be at odds with each other so he can find the cracks. We can’t let him find our weakness.”

“Following is not really my style,” Tony smirks.

“And you're all about style, aren't you?” Steve teases.

“Of the people in this room, which one is; A. wearing a spangly outfit, and B. not of use?” Tony throws back.

“Tony!” Rose scolds.

“Steve, tell me none of this smells a little funky to you?” Bruce asks coming to Tony’s defense.

The silence that follows this question is telling. Rose watches the information process through Steve’s mind slowly until he decides that he’ll be loyal to the operation.

“Just find the cube,” he orders.


	8. I'd Like to See You Try...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> First of all, allow me to apologize that it's taken me six months to give you guys 3,000 words. I couldn't hear Rose. As she's often prone to do, she just sorta wandered off. I hope to keep her on a short leash for a while. Thank you for all the Kudos while I was gone from this fic and please, let me know how you're liking things. 
> 
> This chapter is un-beta'd as usual and all mistakes are mine.

“That's the guy my dad never shut up about?” Tony asks moments after Steve had left them in his wake. “Wondering if they shouldn't have kept him on ice.”

“Easy, Tony,” Rose soothes her friend, rubbing her hand along his shoulder blades. Tony sighs out a heavy breath and Rose begins to work his tense shoulders with her nimble hands.

“The guy's not wrong about Loki,” Bruce relents. “He does have the jump on us.”

“What he's got is an ACME dynamite kit,” Tony grunts as Rose continues to massage his shoulders. He makes a face when she hits a particularly tight knot but continues. “It's gonna blow up in his face, and I'm gonna be there when it does.”

“And I'll read all about it,” Bruce smirks.

“Uh-huh. Or you'll be suiting up like the rest of us,” Tony responds with a point at his new friend.

“Not me,” Rose says sadly. “Cap’s got me under house arrest.”

“I don't get a suit of armor,” Bruce lamented. “I'm exposed, like a nerve. It's a nightmare.”

“You know, I've got a cluster of shrapnel, trying every second to crawl its way into my heart,” Tony consoles, pointing at his arc reactor. “This stops it. This little circle of light. It's part of me now, not just            armor. It's a... terrible privilege.”

“But you can control it,” Bruce disagrees. “So can you, Rose. You both can control your abilities.”

“Because I learned how,” Tony points out before looking back at Rose. “I bet you did too. Why didn’t you ever tell me you were super human?”

“You never asked,” Rose reminds him with a cheeky grin.

“It's different,” Banner states flatly. He turns to look back at his work, attempting to end the conversation. This isn’t something he enjoys talking about. But Tony, as usual, has different ideas.

“Hey, I've read all about your accident,” Tony says seriously, pulling out of Rose’s friendly massage. “That much gamma exposure should have killed you.”

“He’s right, Bruce,” she adds. “There’s a reason you can do what ya do.”

“So you're saying that the Hulk... the other guy... saved my life?” Bruce asks disbelieving.

Rose nods. “Mine did,” she states.

“That's nice,” Bruce hums thoughtfully. “It's a nice sentiment. Saved it for what?”

There’s a long moment where the three of them just sit together in their own thoughts.            

“I guess we'll find out,” Tony states.

***

It didn’t take long for Rose to require more answers. Ones she couldn’t get by looking at data or working more algorithms, no… she needed to see the surveillance for herself. And then, she needed to talk to Loki. Why would he call out her name? How could he know she was watching him?

She slips out through the lab door on the rouse that she’s going to the loo. Not that Tony or Bruce would mind a bit of guy time, nor would they begrudge her for being her curious self. Since Cap was busy, and since she wasn’t technically leaving the ship, she figured it would be fine anyway.

Her first stop is security. She strides in the door with purpose, causing a young man to turn and instantly regard her as his superior, even though she isn’t.

“Play back the last two hours of Loki’s security feed,” she says. “Two times the speed, please. I’ve not got all day.”

The young man obliges with a terse nod and in moments Rose is watching Loki in his cell. He doesn’t move from his seated position in the center of his cage. Not. Once.

“He hasn’t moved, ma’am,” the boy reports. “He just… sits there. It’s kinda eerie.”

“Indeed,” Rose nods. But inwardly she’s shaking. Either she really _did_ imagine the whole thing, or Loki has manipulated the feed. Either way, something isn’t right and she needs to get to the bottom of it. “Thank you.”

Her next location is Loki, but because she doesn’t know who knows what, she takes the back way there. She’s not interested in someone getting Cap’s attention and ratting her out. She needs more time with the God in order to properly understand exactly what he’s after. And since no one else is interested in talking to him properly, she knows she can glean more information from him.

When she gets there, she’s not alone. Natasha is already there working her magic. Rose has to applaud the woman, she’s good at getting information without asking.

“So Banner…” Natasha is saying slowly with realization. “That’s your play.”

“What?”

Rose smirks at the surprise she hears in Loki’s voice.

“Loki means to unleash the Hulk. Keep Banner in the lab, I'm on my way. Send Thor as well.” Natasha reports into her earpiece before turning around to Loki. “Thank you for your cooperation.”

And then she’s gone, leaving a gob smacked Asgardian in her wake. Rose creeps around the corner of her hiding place and leans against a chrome pipe, probably used for ventilation of the ship. She says nothing, just waits patiently for Loki to acknowledge her.

“I am not interested in your platitudes, Rose,” Loki says without turning around.

“Platitudes… platitudes…” Rose says as though she’s pondering the word. “Is that them things what go ‘round the Earth? Them lines or whatever? Platitudes? Well, I think them’s too big f’me pockets, Loki. I can get ya one it ya’d like, though. I think the equator’s up f’sale.”

Loki does not turn, but he can’t help the amused smirk that comes over his face. Clever woman, in spite of her smallness. But the moment of amusement is over before it began and he finally turns to face her with a bored expression. “You have been watching me for hours,” he states crossing his glass case toward her.

“You manipulated the surveillance footage so it looked like ya didn’t move, but I know ya did,” she fires back.

Loki quirks a brow at her and scoffs in a way she thinks could be playful. “And how do you believe I could have done such a thing when I am locked up here like an animal at the zoo?” he asked coolly.

“I dunno, but ya did,” Rose answers. “I saw you! You were standin’ right there, just like that, and ya said my name right inta the camera.”

“Did I?” Loki’s eyes seem to sparkle. He takes a seat on the floor and makes a point with his two index fingers just under his nose. “Strange that I do not remember these events, darling Rose. I have been but meditating.”

“Meditating my arse!” Rose grins and moves to sit in front of him. She crosses her legs over each other in Indian style and props her chin on one hand. “You was schemein’. I know a thinker when I see one.”

“And I know a stubborn woman when I see one,” he retorts. “Why did you come here, Rose? It is not to ask me how only you could see me move, that is certain. I am not a foolish man; I could smell your curiosity the second you walked in the door.”

Rose sobers a bit at his words. He is not foolish, but he is a fool. “There’s more t’what you’re doin’ than ya say,” she ponders aloud.

Loki frowns. “I had been expecting more,” he says sounding disappointed and annoyed.

“Hold on a minute!” Rose holds on hand. “Ya can’t rush a bird while she’s ponderin’, eh?”

Loki only rolls his eyes and goes silent. He’ll let the woman think, but she’s taking her sweet time about it. Never mind the fact that he’s uncomfortable enough realizing that he doesn’t mind her company…

“This can’t just be ‘cause you’re angry at your brother,” she continues aloud. “’S more than that… You called yourself the Would-Be-King. So that means you were heir and he wasn’t, even for a short amount of time. He said ‘imagined slights’ which means you have been seein’ things that aren’t what they were. And you said you’d seen worlds unknown. So, somethin’ happened that switched your stations, probably more than once. Thor also said you was adopted…” A light of realization comes over her face and she pauses as it hits her. Her mouth drops open as she stares at something to her left as if it’s the most fascinating thing she’s ever seen. Loki sits straighter than before, wondering why this curious woman would stop so suddenly.

“Oh my god…” Rose murmurs. “You didn’t know…” Her amber eyes hit Loki’s like a ton of bricks. Full of complete understanding of his situation. He’s shocked that there is no judgement in those eyes, just pure, unadulterated compassion. “You was raised alongside him and ya had no idea, did ya? F’how long?”

Loki is internally seething that Thor would speak of him in such a way to allow anyone to come to this conclusion. Not to mention how angry he suddenly is at _her_ for even asking him something so personal or thinking he would be inclined to talk about _that._ Outwardly, Loki keeps his expression blank.

“How intuitive,” he deadpans. “Do you think that because you guessed a small portion of my life that I will break and tell you everything?”

So it was true and she was much too close to the real answer. He’s deflecting. Rose shakes her head slowly. “No,” she admits softly. “I expect ‘s much more complicated than that. I expect you t’shut down and deflect, maybe try t’dig up my inner secrets and use ‘em exploit me soft side. ‘Cause I suspect ‘m very close t’the heart of this and you don’t want me there.”

“Do you believe you to be the only one that can come to such a conclusion?” Loki sneers. “Do you believe yourself so clever that _that_ is some sort of brilliant observation? These are not things any other mortal couldn’t conclude on their own.”

“No, but it is makin’ you squirm,” Rose delights in his newest deflection.

Loki’s frown deepens at her mirth. How can she find this amusing? “I am not squirming,” he denies.

“Then how come’s your hands is in fists?” she asks pointing to both his hands that have, on their own accord balled up so tight his knuckles are turning white.

Instinctively, he loosens his fingers and flexes. “I am imagining them curled around your throat,” he threatens. “Slowly letting the air out of your body as you lose the battle to breath.”

Rose laughs so hard she falls onto her back and then rolls to her side. He arms wrapped around her middle as she laughs harder than he’s ever seen someone at his threats. It confounds him that she can’t take this seriously. Perhaps she really is mad.

“Oh, Loki,” Rose chuckles out, resting on her side and glancing at him. There are laughter tears along the rim of her eyes. “I’d like t’see ya try.” She sniffles a bit and stands, wiping her eyes with her fingers, still chuckling.

“You find death amusing?” Loki asks both curious and annoyed by her reaction.

“No, love,” she shakes her head. “I think ‘s amusin’ you believe I even can die.”

Loki’s brow knits together as he regards her. She’s shaking her head and still giggling softly to herself. “You are immortal?” he wonders.

“I dunno,” she shakes her head smiling and looking down at the God. “But it’ll be interestin’ t’find out one day.” She turns to leave, still giggling a bit. “Imaginin’ me fightin’ t’breathe,” she chuckles to herself. Her laughter echoes off the walls as she is the second woman to leave a confounded Asgardian in her wake.

***

She is still smiling as she returns to the lab, though her laughter has long since stilled and her tears of mirth gone from her eyes. She is expecting to see her two friends still hard at work when she turns the corner to the lab but stops on a dime the second the door opens.

Amusement forgotten in an instant, she observes the entire team staring down at each other. In her quest for answers from Loki, she has completely forgotten the dynamic between her comrades, or perhaps lack thereof.

“You wanna think about removing yourself from this environment, doctor?” Natasha is asking.

“I was in Calcutta,” Bruce replies. “I was pretty well removed.”

“Loki's manipulating you,” Natasha tries to gain control. But it’s a losing battle. Natasha hasn’t been exactly supportive thus far. In fact, she’s been pretty far removed from Banner from the beginning. Dropping him in his lab and moving hastily along with more important business.

“And you've been doing what exactly?” Bruce fired back.

“You didn't come here because I bat my eyelashes at you,” Natasha countors.

“Yes, and I'm not leaving because suddenly you get a little twitchy,” he states, his annoyance growing. “I'd like to know why SHIELD is using the Tesseract to build weapons of mass destruction.”

The stillness that follows is thicker than heavy cream.

“Because of him,” Fury states firmly as he nods at Thor.

“Me?” Thor asks stunned.

“Last year earth had a visitor from another planet who had a grudge match that leveled a small town,” Rose recalls, her voice slightly distant. “SHEILD learned that not only are we as a race not alone, but we are hopelessly, hilariously, outgunned.”

“My people want nothing but peace with your planet,” Thor defends.

“But you ain’t the only people out there, are ya?” Rose fires off, amber eyes snapping back up to Thor. There’s a bit a fire in her gaze as if she’s challenging this god to speak further. It’s enough for Thor to click his mouth shut. He’s seen that look before… in the eyes of his brother…

“And, you're not the only threat,” Fury continues for her. “The world's filling up with people who can't be matched, they can't be controlled.”

“Like you controlled the cube?” Steve asks, but his eyes flicker over to Rose. She has broken eye contact with Thor and she seems to be staring off into the distance. How much of this did she know already? Due to Fury’s order that she be kept under a close watch, he surmises that she either knew far more than Fury thinks she knew or she knew nothing at all and was dangerously close to the heart of the matter.

Steve’s second impression would be correct, of course. Rose and Torchwood had not been allowed to conduct any work on the Tesseract since SHEILD discovered it. In fact, they were kept in the dark about most of SHEILDs work and the two entities were essentially those family members you send Christmas cards to once a year and other than that there is no actual contact the other 363 days a year.

Of course, she wasn’t as close to anything as Steve thought she could be. Rose’s attention was on the prisoner and how to stop him before he caused any more destruction. She’s always found that getting to know your enemy on a personal level allowed one to really understand them and break through to a soft side. Loki has one. She can see it hidden behind a mask of anger, as if his anger was his strength.

And she would know about that, wouldn’t she? The Doctor… Jamie… the Metacrisis Duplicate… he knew a thing or two of anger and hiding it behind a mask. He’d learned it from his nine hundred years of running and hiding and while he, himself, was only a few years old, his eyes were as ancient as any eyes she’d ever seen.

Loki had the same ancient sheen with that hint of sadness in his eyes. But what was most alarming was the rage. Rage that had built a fire up in him from probably a thousand years of being poked. And there he sat in a glass cage having finally snapped in two. She’d seen the other half buried deep down and only peeking out again for a moment before hiding again.

And that outrages her to a point she can’t fathom. For what reason, what _purpose,_ would anyone have to poke at him over and over again until he broke? The sheer cruelty of it is something she can’t rectify in her mind.

Rose doesn’t get irrationally angry about things. This isn’t an irrational anger she’s feeling, either. This is moral outrage! The tension in the lab is palpable, it could be sliced with a knife and suddenly she becomes aware of something no one else is aware of… Loki’s scepter is glowing.  

The brighter is gets the higher the tension grows in the room. Her mouth drops open as if to speak, to try to warn them, hush them or quiet them down but she’s forgotten words. All she can do is look at it, in awe and almost wonder. Is it responding to the fighting or is it causing it? She isn’t sure. She wants to reach out and take it, feel its weight but along with her knowledge of language, she’s lost the ability to move. She’s just… there.

_Sentiment!_ The voice of Loki in her mind is clear as day, as if he’s standing right in front of her. The bright blue light that’s spilling from the scepter takes over her field of vision and no more can she see the lab. In fact, she’s in a whole new place, even though she knows she hasn’t traveled at all.

Her body is physically in the lab, but her mind… that’s on top a tall building and Loki’s ancient, pained, green eyes are staring right into her very soul.

_“Sentiment!” he repeats and it sounds like a curse that’s dripped from his lips._

_“Y’don’t have t’do this, Loki…” Rose says softly, but she knows he’s just going to scoff at her. And he does. A scoff that is accompanied with an eye roll. “What good will it do ya, eh? T’rule people that won’t be ruled? You’ll never get the peace y’want this way. A leader don’t take just ‘cause he can…”_

_“Do you believe your words mean anything to me?” he sneers._

_“No…” Rose shakes her head. “But I think they’ll mean somethin’ later… when you’re ready t’listen t’em…”_

_“And why do you think I’ll give you a second thought, Rose?” he asks in a hushed whisper, leaning forward so she can feel his breath on her face._

_“’Cause I’ll be all ya got in tha end…”_

She’s back in the lab in a flash when she realizes the scepter has moved. “Easy, Bruce…” she says softly. She hadn’t even thought twice before the words tumbled out of her mouth. “Easy…”

“Doctor Banner...” Steve says gently but firmly. “Put down the scepter.”

Rose is at his side while his attention is turned, her hand on Bruce’s shoulder, the other reaching for the scepter. “Give it here, love,” Rose nods when they make eye contact and wordlessly the scepter is turned over to her.

_“You came back…” Loki says in a soft voice._

_“’Course I did…” Rose answers._

_“Why?”_

_“’Cause I promised…”_

The vision is over just as quickly as it had begun and no one else in the room seems aware that Rose, in the span of two minutes has had as many visions. She needs to take time to go over these visions, digest them, discover if they’re predictions or possible outcomes. Sometimes Bad Wolf sees the possible and not the probable. She’s learned that the clearer they are, they more likely they are to happen, and that first one on a rooftop… that was as clear as the lab was. She was heading to that option no matter what path she took.

As she turns to put the scepter back on the table the bickering continues and she finds she’s out of patience with it all. She’s about to whip around to give them all a good old fashioned Rose Tyler Scolding when she’s thrown across the room. The violence of the explosion is enough to send ever Thor for a stumble.

“Put on the suit!” Steve shouts.

“Yep!” Tony answers as they scramble out of the room.

_Loki…_ Rose doesn’t look for anyone else. She knows she has to get to him before anyone else does. Even with Thor here, she doesn’t trust that anyone will be calm or rational enough to keep Loki in check. His plan makes perfect sense now. He wanted to get caught because if he was here, then he couldn’t have organized the attack. This was his design all along and they’d fallen for it, her included.

While no one is looking Rose Tyler wanders off…


	9. She Wanders In

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello lovely readers! I think I've kicked my muse back into working order for a while. I've also created a tumblr blog where you can follow me and my writing there. It's a better way to interact with me, ask questions and get updates on what's going on. So, if you're interested, you can follow me there.
> 
> frostworlfgirl.tumblr.com
> 
> It's a sideblog, so I can't follow back directly. But I will answer questions and be happy to chat with you there. :) 
> 
> Work Un-beta'd as usual. All mistakes are mine.

She ducks out of the way just in time to not get hit by a piece of shrapnel. The attack came suddenly, but she wonders why, on a ship that employs a good thousand or two just to keep it running how no one managed to see something? Honestly… that was the state of Torchwood when she took over, just a bunch of morons wandering around and getting into trouble.

Sometimes she thinks that if she hadn’t been so keen to get back to the Doctor, Torchwood might never have gotten its act together. Before she came along they were vigilantes without a real leader. Ricky had been as close as they truly got and Jake was in no position to take over. Neither was Rose, if she had been honest. But drastic times call for drastic measures.

Another explosion to her left and she does a tuck and roll. With the harnessed Bad Wolf to guide her her sense are attune to so much more than they ever had been in the past. When she was 19 and green she’d never have guessed she would be this agile. And yet, there was is, diving and ducking before anything hits her. Not because she’s predicting where the explosions are… because she’s slowed down Time.

But only to herself. An outside observer would see her running in real time, but she can harness the Time Energy and slow it down to her own perception. She knows when the explosion will hit because she sees it at half speed.

What she doesn’t see is the one behind her that has her in his sights. She isn’t looking behind her, she’s focusing forward for the time being because she has to get to Loki before anyone else does. She’s already calculating her plan. She knows the combination to drop the cell, she knows the sequence of buttons to push, and she knows if she can get to him first she can drop him and then use her vortex manipulator to zap herself inside the thing and then out with Loki.

That’s her plan anyway. She’s hoping using the glass case drop will distract people enough to think he’s in there. After that, she doesn’t really have a plan. She can always zap them back to Torchwood and toss him in with a weevil, but she has a feeling that won’t end will for the weevil. Though, it might be funny to watch.

She adds that to her list of things to do in the future. Put Loki in with a Weevil and see how long it lasts. She’s amused herself with the mental image and that’s her mistake. She’s gone and distracted herself just enough to miss the _twang_ of Clint’s arrow as it fires from his bow. And less than a second later it hits her on the knee.

She goes down like a sack of potatoes with a loud _thump._ And then the cursing happens. She’s picked up a colorful vocabulary from the guys at Torchwood. Jake can curse better than anyone she’s ever known and for a moment she even picks up on his light Scottish accent as a slew of profanity drips from her mouth.

She yanks the arrow out of her leg unceremoniously just as an arm snakes around her waste and hefts her to her feet.

“Oi!” Rose shouts. “Not that’s enough, mate. Y’can put me down!” Her captor doesn’t say anything and she frowns. “Look…” she tries again. “’M gonna give ya ‘bout ten seconds t’let me down…”

Clint’s annoyance finally gets the better of him and he tosses her into the wall, her head hitting the steel with a solid _thunk._ She may be tough, but she’s still human… mostly human… and the hit to her head rings her bell just enough to stop her from talking or fighting.

“Are we done?” Clint asks.

Rose’s vision is a bit bleary, but he’s slowly coming into focus and she sees how blue his eyes are. Unnaturally blue. Like Loki’s scepter blue. She nods. She won’t be fighting him again. Not because she can’t but because he’ll take her exactly where she wants to go.

Into the lion’s den…

***

He’s smiling. The roar from the Green One has carried through the air ducts and rattled his eardrums. It’s a beautiful symphony to the God of Mischief. And the crescendo is led in through the door just in front of his very own Hawkeye.

That smug yellow woman doesn’t look so smug now, and it fills his blackened heart with joy. “Ah, Rose…” Loki sneers behind his glass wall. “My what a pleasure it is to see you once more. And so soon!”

“Allo, love,” Rose smiles back. It both irritates him and thrills him that she’s still playing the game with him. She’s got heart… “I was on me way when I met up with himself.” Rose gestures to Clint Barton behind her, sticking her thumb in his general direction. “I s’pose ya want out don’t ya?”

“Out?” Loki cocks his head, quirks his brow and takes a curious step closer to the glass wall. Has she actually come down here to let him free? That’s more curious than anything. “Are you here to assist with the rescue party?”

“Yours?” Rose asks, looking around the chamber. “No. I was comin’ f’a recuse party of me own. Jus’ got wrapped up in yours and figured why not!” She gave a little shrug with a warm giggle and Loki forced himself not the sneer or shudder at her mirth. How could anyone be this… this… _happy all the time?_

“What side are you on, Rose Tyler?” he muses, stalking along the glass, keeping his keen eyes on her as Clint nudges her forward.

“I ain’t takin’ no sides, mate,” Rose says seriously as she begins to look over the controls. Her fingers hover over the screen for a few moments. It’s long enough for him to snarl a little and inhale sharply so he can scold her to hurry up. Just as the words are sitting on the tip of his tongue, Rose hits a button. “’M on me own side. But I s’pose I’d like y’to join me… so here I am.”

With that his door slides open and he can feel actual fresh air, not air just being pumped in through the vents. And oh… that feels delightful. The smile that appears on his face is genuine as he slowly crosses to the opening and stands in the breeze for a moment.

He just drinks it in. He stands in the jet stream of air, letting it rush over his face ad blow through his hair. In feels like freedom and that’s a bitter sweet feeling. Loki isn’t free. He hasn’t been in a long while. But in this brief moment, he can pretend he might be. He can pretend he’s on the back of Slepinir and they’re galloping full tilt though the wilds of Asgard.

When he opens his eyes, Rose is staring at him and he can’t read the expression on her face. It’s a mixture of confusion and… concern? He’s actually shocked for a second that she doesn’t have some witty remark about a shampoo commercial.

He smirks at her expression, striding over to her with all the confidence of a predator. He feels the adrenaline in his veins as he gets closer and closer to her, knowing she’s smaller and more fragile than she likes to put on. He could crush her without breaking a sweat. As he closes in on her, Loki reaches his slender hand to her throat and wraps his fingers around her it to let her _feel_ his strength pulsating through their skin.

He opens his mouth to speak, running his tongue along his bottom lip for a half a second as he observes the yellow human, but words don’t come. Instead they’re stuck in his throat when he sees the way she’s looking at him.

_She has brown eyes…_ Brown eyes that aren’t afraid of him. Not even the slightest hint of fear. There’s not a challenge either. He can’t put his finger on it. What’s going through her mind?

“Are you afraid, Rose?” he whispers. His voice comes out in a hiss. And he’s not surprised when she shakes her head no.

“No, Loki,” she answers. “’M not afraid of you…”

He knows his eyes flash with rage because he feels it pull at him from in his chest and through her person. His grip tightened on her throat and snarls as he leans even closer so he’s nose to nose with her. “You should be....” his voice is dark and seething all the rage he’s got built up inside him.

“Why?” Rose replies in a soft voice. “I ain’t afraid of you and I ain’t afraid t’die. There ain’t nothin’ you’ve got I ain’t seen b’fore. So get _on with it…”_

His rage fully takes over and he picks her up by her throat and slams her against the wall, snarling at her. “Do you want to die, little flower?” he taunts, his voice roaring at her. “I’ll make it slow. Painful. So you know exactly what you’ve done to bring your end!”

Rose doesn’t squirm or even cry out. She’s just letting him pin her against the wall. “Why don’t you _fight_ , little flower?” he challenges, murmuring in her ear.

“’Cause you’ll get bored eventually,” she answers, but he can hear that her voice is strained. He’s choking her slowly, not quite crushing her windpipe, but enough to get her attention. “I ain’t your enemy…”

“Then what are you??” he hisses, looking at her square in the face. He’s seething and yet something in his head is screaming at him to stop. _Don’t do this horrible thing. She’s all you’ll have left in the end…_

“I’m all you’ve got left…” her voice is so small and when she spoke those five little words he sprang back away from her, letting her drop unceremoniously to the floor. If there’s one thing Loki hates most, it’s feeling out of control and her words have shaken him up. She’s said exactly what his inner mind was saying to him and he feels like a caged animal in his own head. He’s hyperventilating, he can feel his nostrils flaring.

He watches as Rose coughs and puts a hand over her throat where he had been squeezing. “Oi, bloody hell…” she snaps. “That’s Four!”

“Four?!” Loki snarls.

“Bruises!” she glares up at him. “That’s four bruises, ya brute! Who taught ya how t’handle a woman, eh? You gots a mum? I need t’speak with her…” he watches her regain her footing.

“Care to try for five?” he fires back.

“Only if y’feelin’ kinky!” Rose retorts and that makes Loki blink, but only internally. Outwardly his expression is as unchanged as ever.

He glares at her and scoffs. “Don’t you just wish, little flower?” he taunts.

“Nah,” Rose grins back, her tongue poking out the side of her mouth. “I don’t fancy a good shag until at last the six or seventh bruise…”

Loki sneers but there’s humor behind that smile. She’s got a wit about her that he likes and that’s a bit startling. He doesn’t usually like anything.

Suddenly and without warning the whole ship rumbles again and it breaks their almost flirtatious exchange. “Thor’s lookin’ f’ya,” Rose says as if she knows it and he wonders if she does. She seems to know a lot more than she puts on, or maybe it’s the thing that causes her eyes to glow. He needs to ask about that and he knows exactly when he’ll have time.

While she’s busy trying to steady, herself he moves, scooping her up around her waist and holding her firm against his side. “Stop squirming,” he scolds, pulling her tighter.

“Oi!” Rose scolds back. “Let go of me, eh? I’ll go with ya, but I ain’t your rag doll!”

Loki grins wolfishly at that, dipping his nose to her hair line. “Not yet…” he threatens just as Thor bursts through the door and sees a duplicate of his brother standing in the doorframe of the glass cage.

“NO!” Thor rumbles and drops his shoulder to charge at Loki.

“Thor…” Rose says, but Loki clamps his hand over her mouth and growls in her ear.

“Shut it, little flower!” he says. “Close the door! Now!”

Rose obeys with wide eyes and Loki beams at her darkly.

“Are you ever not going to fall for that?” he asks Thor, but his eyes are still on Rose for a half beat longer. And then he moves on, pushing her toward the controls. Without asking her, Loki slides the door shut and locks Thor inside.

The God sneers at his brother, sliding passed Rose to saunter up to the control panel himself. “The humans think us immortal,” he says, reaching out toward the drop button with a dark smile. “Should we test that?”

No sooner than Rose is about to say something a guard nearby slumps to his knees and they’re looking at none other than Phil Coulson. Rose can’t deny that she feels a slight sense of relief that she’s not totally alone with these two Asgardians, but… something deeper inside her screams that he needs to get out. She can take care of herself, she’s tougher now than ever, but Phil is still a fragile human.

“’S a Phase Two Prototype…” Rose breathes when she sees the weapon her colleague is holding.

“Move away, please,” Phil gestures to Loki. Loki does as he’s told, slinking back to hide behind Rose.

“Oi!” Rose disagrees. “Hidin’ behind a woman now, eh?” Loki plants a hand over her mouth without looking at her.

“You like this?” Phil asks. “We started working on the prototype after you sent THE DESTROYER. Even I don't know what it does. Do you wanna find out?”

Rose can’t even react before Loki moves. He’s no longer behind her but Phil, his scepter straight through Phil’s chest.

Two matching screams of “NO!” echo through the chamber. One from Rose, the other from Thor still locked behind the glass. The rest of the activity is a blur for Rose, but she knows she feels Loki grab her around the waist once more, pulling her into his side just as a rush of air hits iher in the face. The glass prison once secure now plummets to the Earth below and Rose’s plan of moving them is all but lost.

“What’s this little trinket?” Loki asks, a purr of superiority in his voice as he lifts Rose’s wrist up to look at the Vortex Manipulator. Before she can answer he’s cut the strap with a dagger and stuffs it into the breast of his armor for later inspection. “I very much look forward to seeing how it works…. Rose….”


	10. By the Power of Fifty-Nine (Part One)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> First of all, thank you to all the loyal readers that wait so long between updates! You're all wonderful! 
> 
> Secondly, this chapter was supposed to be one chapter, but it was so long I had to split it into two. Hopefully the second chapter will roll out shortly, but since you've all waited so long, I decided to post this one now.
> 
> There are brief mentions of sexual activity in this chapter and therefore, the rating on this work has changed! It's not explicit yet, but who knows! 
> 
> This work remains un-beta'd and all mistakes are mine.

No one knows how many millions of years before the rise of the Time Lords the Tardis Corals began to grow and become sentient. It’s conjectured in the Universe Prime that the corals were the first life form on Gallifrey, but since no Time Lords were present, no one knows. The Tardis’s are quite keen on keeping it that way.

The Doctor once told Rose that the Tardis often doesn’t go where he wants it to go, but it always takes him where he needs to go. That seems to be true of all Tardis’s. And there’s a colelctive understanding that the Tardis’s won’t take their Time Lords to the beginning of time on Gallifrey.

That’s probably for the best. A curious Time Lord is never a good thing…

But what is clear and known is that the Tardis Coral is a Tardis’s natural state. Among the chief knowledge in this field: All Tardis are female. All Tardis are connected. All Tardis came from the same cutting. So really, every Tardis is one Tardis but each is also separate.

It’s extremely complicated.

To try to track down the history of the Tardis/Time Lord relationship is impossible. It cannot be chronicled in words and would take seven generations or more to explain let alone comprehend. So rather than spend time talking about the whole history, let’s focus on just one: the seedling that now lives in a Vortex Manipulator around the wrist of one Rose Tyler.

Presented on the shores of Bad Wolf Bay from one Time Lord to another, the seedling was no larger than a cup of coffee, really. It fit in the breast pocket of one Half Time Lord, but even before that it was part of a larger whole. It was a direct cutting from the Tardis Proper.

The seedling recalled the very moment she became her own being. It happened in the garden room. The Doctor had found his was in and his clever Tardis has bloomed all her roses for him. But the smile he wore didn’t reach his eyes. It was sad and the Tardis knew that her Rose wasn’t staying.

“Ya know we can’t keep them both,” he said softly, running his hand through his wild hair. “He needs her and I…” He broke off and the lighting in the Garden Room dimmed in response. She understood, gently caressing his mind in the mental equivalent of a hug.

“I need to give them something…” he said, running his hand down his face to regain control. “And, look, I know what you’re gonna say but ya also know I’m right.” His eyes flickered around the room, looking for the exact right place to make the cut.

He found it at the bottom of a strut, as if the Ole’ Girl was saying, ‘Here, take this piece.’ Indeed, the Time Lord actually felt the mental nudge. She wasn’t going to stop him, she was encouraging this behavior. He smirked a half-manic grin and began digging in his pockets.

“It’s gotta be in here somewhere,” he was muttering, digging deeper and deeper. Eventually he was to his elbow when his eyes lit up again. “Gotcha!” Producing the small Swiss Army knife, he looked up apologetically into the ceiling. “I’ll try ta make this quick.”

It was quick, one swift _snickt_ and the coral was free. It was the time ship giving a part of herself away. From that very moment, the two beings were separate and the following was the seedlings first memory:

“You’ve gotta take care of Rose for me,” he whispers. “I can’t take care of her, but he can. He can give her forever. And you can give them the stars.” He kisses the coral and for the briefest of brief moments he can feel two Tardis’s hugging him. But then the small sensation is over and he knows the seedling has a lot of learning to do.

Her second memory you know, it’s the one when she’s presented to her new family on the shores of Bay Wolf Bay and Doctor Donna gives them the exact equation to get the seedling to grow faster than expected so that she can become a Time Ship.

What happens after that is a series of unfortunate events that will lead Rose Tyler to the side of Loki Laufeyson. But not all of her memories are sad, and not all the events are unfortunate. In fact, many of her memories are good, loving and beautiful. It’s how they ended that makes them sad.

Her first home, after a blue suited breast pocket that is, is a small fish tank on a chest of drawers in a very cramped two-bedroom apartment. The Doctor, who had decided he wasn’t the Doctor and wanted a name, spent hours—no days—setting it up. The heat lamp is re-wired to be red-spectrum, the sand is special ordered from an online fish tank enthusiast to be the exact shade of red that would match the sand of Gallifrey, and he even goes as far as to install a timed sprinkler system that will mist the coral precisely every 28 hours for twenty minutes. The heat lamp is on a timer too. And all of this is watched over by a very nervous, mother hen of a Half-Human Half-Time Lord named Jamie Noble.

“You gonna stare at it all day, or ya gonna come have dinner?” Rose asks, standing in the doorframe of his bedroom. She’s moved them from the mansion to her two-bedroom apartment in the city where she lived while training for Torchwood and before she began Dimension Hopping. She’s smiling at Jamie who looks over and returns it with a manic grin.

“It’s not quite perfect yet,” he announces. He’s been bent over for a while and he smiles while he stretches. “I need t’look at all the Torchwood archives and see if there’s anything I can salvage t’help her grow.”

“We can go t’morrow,” Rose promises, holding out her hand to him. She wiggles her fingers in his general direction, her tongue poking out of the corner of her mouth. “But first, you need t’eat, mister.”

The search through the archives yields some alien tech that Jamie recognizes. Even between dimensions some things don’t change. Star Wars wasn’t one of them, but at least the prequel trilogy wasn’t made by Lucas! He’d sold the rights to Star Wars to Disney much much earlier in this dimension. (It also appeared that Hayden Christianson wasn’t an actor in this dimension. Rose discovered later he was the owner of a small fish sandwich chain in America’s Midwest and he was much happier.)

The terrarium grows larger a few months after she’s planted when Jamie is convinced that she doesn’t have enough room to grow. He builds a make-shift sonic screwdriver for himself and one for Rose (her’s lights up gold instead of blue) and works on building a much larger growing area in his closet. He’s still staying in the guest room because he and Rose for all intents and purposes are strangers that know each other very well.

Jamie puts the finishing touches on his grow chamber when Rose reappears at his door, leaning on the door frame. She doesn’t say anything, she knows he feels her there. There’s a silence between them, a sort of companionable silence that’s louder than words.

“I love you,” Rose says softly.

Jamie isn’t sure he’s heard her right and shakes his head. “You love the Doctor,” he corrects.

“You are the Doctor,” she reminds him.

Jamie finally looks at her and smiles sadly. “Not anymore.”

“Come here,” she says softly holding out her hand. Jamie hesitates, his heart pounding. He takes one step before he can stop himself, and then another and another and then he’s in her arms. By the time the sun comes up the following morning, they’re both naked and there’s no doubt left in his mind that her feelings for him are true.

They check on the seedling once or twice day after that. They make sure the watering unit is working, that the right vibrations are being sent into the sand, the sun is rising and falling on the right cycle. Jamie makes a moon light for her and Rose helps. They turn the spare bedroom into his workshop and make love on his worktable.

The first time he touches her mind is in that room. He’s kept the bed in there just in case he stays up too late and doesn’t want to wake Rose by coming to bed. When they link their minds the pleasure is more intense and she climaxes before she knows she was even close.

Jamie begins training her to speak to him mentally and thus speak to the seedling too. When they’re joined he reaches out to the seedling and lets her into their minds. He finds they’re both more open when they’re making love and it serves two purposes: he gets to be in Rose’s mind and he gets to be inside Rose.

Rose and Jamie become bondmates six months after they’re dropped off on Bad Wolf Bay. It’s a two week long ceremony that takes place in their apartment in private. During that time they never put on more than a bathrobe. They still check on the seedling, they still make love in the workshop with her and when the bond is clicked into place they no longer have to train her mind to be open. Now, Jamie realizes, he’s created a monster.

He’s over her, their bodies sliding over one another with perfect ease. He catches her lips, wraps his fingers through hers and pins her arms over her head. He feels their pleasure building and he knows the bond is about to click.

 _Focus on me, Rose…_ he sends. _Look at me._

Rose’s eyes fly open, her mouth in a perfect ‘o’.

 _Cum with me, Rose._  With a final, hard thrust in they come undone together and as the white light explodes behind their eyes the bond clicks into place. It’s perfect clarity. They can feel each other and themselves. They are both separate and together.

When he opens his eyes, he’s greeted by not the familiar warm amber brown eyes of his bondmate but something different. They’re brown, yes, but in the pupil, is a swirling golden vortex. He’s seen that in these eyes once before, but not with this face.

“Rose?”

“I can see everything,” Rose says. It’s her voice, with a hint of an echo.

“No…” he sits up almost panicked. “No, you’re not s’pposed t’see that.”

“It’s okay…” Rose whispers, cupping his face in her hands. “Don’t ya feel it? This is how we’ll have forever…”

He closes his eyes and he just _feels._ It’s not wrong like it was the first time he met Bad Wolf. This time it’s perfect. Joined with her as he is, he can see everything too. He can see how they’ve always been heading toward this exact moment when she was both Rose and Bad Wolf at the same time. She’s now part Time, just as he is. Not Time Lord or Lady just… Time. They’re… “We’re the same…” he gasps.

“Yes…” Rose answers. And it’s perfect understanding.

After the bonding ceremony, it’s agreed that Jackie will never stand for her only daughter to not have a proper wedding. Begrudgingly, Jamie agrees to do an Earth ceremony, but he is an immovable object about his Chuck Taylors. Rose orders him a black pair and that seems to be acceptable to all parties.

Jamie marries her in his blue suit. The seedling is in his breast pocket the whole day. She hasn’t grown an inch, but he’s not worried yet. The wedding takes place in the backyard of the Tyler Mansion. It’s simple, but extravagant if that’s possible. They have a grand total of 100 guests, mostly executives and big wigs from Pete’s work but all of Torchwood is present too, including Jake Simmonds and his boyfriend Ianto Jones.

“We’re transferin’ to Cardiff,” Jake tells the happy couple during the reception. “Pete says the rift is more active than ever. There’s a Weevil epidemic breakin’ out.”

Rose confronts her father that night. She tugs Jamie along after her and tells her father that she’ll be seeing him in his office in ten minutes. In her wedding gown she explains that, in no uncertain terms, will she be left behind without her best friend Jake and how dare Pete ship him off without talking to her first.

“Rose, I was going to wait until after the wedding,” Pete sighs, pinching the bridge of his nose. “But since you’re so keen on knowing everything, you are the Doctor are going as well. I was going to have Simmonds get the base together while you and Jamie honeymoon and when you returned you would be moving to Cardiff to take over at Commander of Torchwood Three.”

They honeymoon in Scotland. The seedling comes too. She’s part of the family. While they’re out there, Jamie picks up a Scottish accent and a kilt and they spend evenings bonding with the seedling. That’s when Rose has an idea.

“Ya know how the TARDIS proper was Ole’ Girl?” she asks. “What if this one is named Little One?”

“Rose Tyler, you’re brilliant,” Jamie beams at her.

“It’s Rose Noble now,” she corrects him.

“You’re Rose Tyler and that’s final,” he pouts.

They go back and forth on this very small detail for a few days. He says she’s always going to be Rose Tyler because to be anything other than Rose Tyler is a crime against the universe. Eventually she gets him to agree to hyphenate her name. And Rose Tyler-Noble is born.


	11. By the Power of Fifty-Nine (Part 2)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Un-beta'd. All mistakes are mine.
> 
> Thank you all for being so patient with me on updates! I hope this was worth the wait...

By the Power of Fifty-Nine (Part Two)

It’s two o-clock in the morning. The Doctor, Jamie Noble, is still awake and standing in the door frame of the workshop. He’s moved the Little One from their apartment in London to the new apartment in Cardiff almost a year ago. He’s converted the whole second room to her growth, building a phone booth sized glass tank, four heat lamps on the roof, a series of moon lights that slowly move as the moon might move in the Gallifreyan sky. He’s set up a sprinkler system that is timed to the second. The sonic vibrations are turned way up and he’s done everything Doctor Donna said to do.

But it’s not working…

“She’s not growing,” Jamie says as he curls around Rose’s body in their bed.

“I know,” Rose murmurs in return. She rolls over so she can bury her nose in his shoulder, but he beats her to it. He’s curled around her as small as his long body can make itself. “Hey… it’s not your fault, okay?”

“I don’t know what else to do, Rose,” Jamie whispers. “I’ve failed her. I failed you. A proper Time Lord would have figured it out by now…”

Rose takes his sweet face in her hands and draws it up to look him in the eyes. “You _are_ a proper Time Lord, Jamie Noble,” she whispers.

They make love until the sun comes up and again when they take a shower. They take the next week off from work at Torchwood and spend every moment in each other’s arms. By the end of the week, they have a plan B… it’s come to Jamie in a dream.

He’s up on the final Sunday as the sun kisses his skin. Rose finds him an hour later in his make-shift lab bedroom, hunched over a table. He’s sketching like he’s never sketched before. She doesn’t bother him yet, she knows not to do that. It’ll either result in her being ignored or being bent over his table in a fit of passion and quite frankly… she’s sore.

She makes the coffee and the eggs and waits for him in the kitchen. She’s got him down to a science by now. She knows the scent of coffee and eggs is Time Lord for ‘Breakfast’ and this Time Lord loves breakfast probably as much as he loves her.

He comes out of his room dramatically and in a manner that is reminiscent of Kramer. The door flies open and for a moment he stands in the door frame his wild hair and wild eyes making him look like a mad scientist. “I’ve got it!” he says finally.

He comes to her quickly, scooping her up and sitting her on the counter, kissing her deeply. “I’ve got it, Rose,” he repeats, kissing her deeper and groaning into her mouth. “Oh, Rose… I know what to do! I know how to take you back to the stars…”

“Will you knock it off, ya mad man,” she laughs, holding his shoulders back before he can kiss her a third time. “’M sore and I’ve seen the stars about three times a day all week. I don’t need no more stars for a bit, yea?”

The Doctor smiles a manic smile. “I love you, Rose Tyler…” he says, tucking a golden curl behind her ear. “But that’s not what I mean. Look!” He shows her the drawing he’s brought with him. It’s a sketch of something that she recognizes instantly.

“It’s a vortex manipulator!” she says, taking the offered paper and looking it over closely. “Jus like Jack’s!”

“Better!” Jamie grins. “Look closely. What’s inside the manipulator?”

Rose’s brows furrow, her lips purse, her eyes narrow. She’s concentrating hard to read the tiny notes off to the side in his perfect hand writing. The size is so small she wonders if she needs glasses for a moment. She starts muttering along as she reads the notes.

“…face plate made of solid gold for best results, surrounded in soft brown leather for comfort. Gold conducts electricity better than copper, so it’s recommended as the wiring used for the interface. TARDIS Seedling…”

She stops and looks up at him with wide realization. “You’re gonna interface the Little One with a Vortex Manipulator?”

“Aye,” Jamie nods. “She’ll never grow up to be a proper Time Ship, Rose. I understand it now. Time Energy on Pete’s World is different, remember? That’s why for you, it was four years and for me it was two. Time’s off. Not to mention there’s no Gallifrey here. No Time Lords. The Seedling can’t adapt to the changes in Time Energy but this…” he jabs his finger into the drawing, “… _this_ is how she can take us to the Stars. A Vortex Manipulator will do all the hard work for her, but she’s the brains behind it.”

“You…” Rose looks at him with wide eyes full of love, admiration, and pride. “God, I love you…”

The next six months are spent creating the Manipulator and a chamber large enough for the seedling to fit comfortably. Of course, that ends only with an extremely bulky and unattractive wrist band that would easily get caught on something whilst running. And quite honestly, Jamie is designing this to be worn by Rose and not him. He’s spent too long in their lives making the decisions with the location of their adventures and the time. It’s her turn. This is his gift to her… a gift of the Stars.

He’s standing in the labs, his hair a bit more sticky-uppy than usual when Rose finds him again. It’s the end of the day and she’s tired of chasing Weevils, or rather being chased by Weevils. Jamie is frowning at his third attempt at a casing.

“It looks like rubbish,” he grumbles, knowing she is there. He doesn’t need to say anything at all, she can feel his emotions.

“It doesn’t look like rubbish,” she says softly, coming up behind him. She kisses his shoulder. “You’ll get it.”

“It’s bulky! It’ll get caught on something. Y’can’t hide it well under a jacket sleeve!” he lists all the things he sees wrong with it.

“Well, why don’t ya just make it smaller?”

“Because, Rose, the seedling has to fit inside there in its entirety. I can’t make a cutting of a cutting. She needs all her faculties that we’ve given her in the last year…”

“Then why don’t ya just make it bigger on the inside?”

There’s a pause… a long one. Jamie says nothing, but his emotions run the gambit and his eyes widen in wonder. “Oh Rose…” he says in a low voice. “Rose… my beautiful, clever, Rose. Always asking the right questions!”

They never make it home that night…

Another six months go by before she’s ready for her first test flight.

“Okay!” Jamie says proudly. The casing is perfect. It’s sleek, sexy, golden just like its owner. It’s perfect for Rose. The cover of the face plate is a soft brown leather flap, embossed on the inside with a dedication he carved himself and plated with gold.

_If I believe in one thing, just one thing… I believe in you. Love, Jamie._

“I love it,” Rose smiles at him, brushing her fingers over the faceplate.

“Can ya feel her in there, Rose?” he asks. Rose closes her eyes and listens with her heart. It takes only a few seconds for her to hear the tiny humming, a soft child-like voice in her mind singing her that same old song.

“Yea,” Rose says with a nod. “Yea, I can feel her…”

“That’s good,” Jamie says. “I’ve done the programming for ya this time. All you gotta do is push the button. See the big red button in the middle?”

“What is it with you and big red buttons?” she teases, opening her eyes to look back at her wrist.

“I just need ya to push it for me, Rose,” Jamie continues, not answering her question.

“Where will I end up?” she asks.

“The other side of the room,” he says. “Seven minutes from now.”

“What happens if I don’t show up seven minutes from now?” she asks worried.

Jamie rubs the back of his neck. “Well…”

“You ain’t thought of that?!” Rose squeaks.

“Now, calm down, Rose,” Jamie soothes.

“Calm down?!” Rose shouts. “Whatcha mean, calm down? I might not come back!”

“I tested it with a Weevil…” Jamie mutters.

“WITH A WEEVIL?!” Rose bellows. “Oh Thank God for that! ‘Cause a Weevil an’ a Rose is so similar! What happened t’the Weevil then?”

“It came back!” Jamie defends. “Five minutes late…”

“Nope!” Rose says shaking her head. She starts to take off the Manipulator, marching over to Jamie. “Nope, ‘M out! Not doin’ it! Ya can’t make me!”

Jamie meets her half way and stops her from removing the device completely. “Rose, listen to me,” he says cutting her off. She looks up at him with those big brown eyes and his breath hitches. “Sorry…”

“Sorry for what?” Rose asks.

“For this…” And he bushes the button for her.

There’s a flash of golden light, the taste of ozone on the air and a bit of crackling in the aftermath. And no Rose… “She’s gonna kill me…” he mutters.

 “Jamie Noble, ‘m gonna count t’ten and if you’re still sittin’ on our arse, ‘m gonna kill ya!” Rose shouted when she returned. Exactly seven minutes on the nose.

Jamie Noble survived. But only because it worked.

That’s the origin of the trinket around Rose’s wrist and the latest object of Loki’s intrigue. That’s the Little One.

And the Little One hates Loki.


	12. Top of the Tower

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Work un-beta'd. 
> 
> I have a new fic titled Our Lady of Time, which centers around another one of my RP characters and Bucky Barnes. If you like this, I hope you'll check that one out as well.

“If I believe in one thing, just one thing, I believe in you. Love, Jamie,” Loki reads, his voice silky and smooth. It makes Rose uncomfortable to hear her late husbands name on Loki’s lips. “Who’s Jamie?”

Rose sits on a sofa that has no purpose being comfortable for how ridiculous it looked. Leave it to Tony Stark to pick the ugliest furniture while still ensuring his arse was at maximum comfort. She’s looking out the window admiring the view. She skipped the party when construction was completed, she’d been in the throes of mourning and in no condition to be at a social gathering with alcohol.  But that didn’t mean she never looked at Google Maps. She and Jake got drunk in her flat and flew a drone around the building. Jarvis wasn’t too pleased about it, but couldn’t do much to stop her. Stark hadn’t regulated or privatized the airspace at that point, so it was perfectly legal for two drunken idiots in the United Kingdom to send a private drone owned by a government organization to annoy Tony Stark.

Now, sitting where she’s sitting, Rose wonders why she never took him up on the invitation. In a time of peace, it might have been pleasant.

“Who’s Jamie?” Loki asks again, more annoyed the second time. He never liked having to repeat himself, and this blonde pushing all of his buttons.

“What d’you care?” Rose fires back, but her voice isn’t as harsh as his. There’s an almost resolve there, like she’s totally accepted that she’s his prisoner. It’s not the first time she’d been kidnapped, after all.

Loki doesn’t like that response and stalks closer to her. He holds his scepter and points it at her heart. He could very easily look in her heart, her mind, see everything about her, but he wants her to give him the information of her own volition. “Who. Is. Jamie?”

“He’s dead, if that’s what ya wanna know,” Rose shrugged. “Don’t matter who is he no more.”

“Was he your lover?” Loki prods.

Rose rolls her eyes and finally her head too. She glares her big brown eyes at him, daring him to ask her again. “Nah, love,” she snarks. “He was me put dog. Could write letters with his mouth…”

“Ooohhh…” Loki purrs, his eyes lighting up. He’s hit a sore spot and he likes that.

But for Rose, this is just bait. A well laid trail of breadcrumbs to get Loki to think he has power over her that he doesn’t have. And it’s working.

Loki comes closer and kneels in front of her, putting his hands on the sofa on either side of her. He’s effectively boxed her in. “He was more than a lover… What was he Rose? Our husband? You’re not wearing a wedding band…”

“Neither are you…” Rose says leading forward. Loki’s smile deepens. He likes this game and she can tell. The Little One is telling her what Loki’s feeling, feeding her information through their bond.

Rose has a man inside.

“Ah, but we aren’t talking about my past,” Loki says, licking his bottom lip. “We’re talking about yours.”

“No, _you’re_ talkin’ about my past,” Rose corrected. “ _I_ am talkin’ ‘bout yours. I’ll make ya a deal. For every question I answer, you gotta answer one of mine.”

Loki falters, but only in his mind. His smile doesn’t drop, his expression stays cool. The Little One reports that Rose has hit something primal in the god and Rose feels like she’s larger than life.

“Very well…” Loki purrs. He gets up and sits on the opposite side of the large sofa, facing Rose directly. He holds his scepter in one hand, his elbow propped on the arm rest of the sofa, and crosses his legs at the knees. His body language says he’s relaxed and in control but his heart rate is spiking.

The seedling knows this because he’s holding onto the vortex manipulator. His connection to the device is what allows the seedling to monitor his physiological tells. And it helps that she hates his guts. She can’t see anything redeemable in this brute and remind Rose over and over again by sending wave after wave of disgust to her mother.

_Will you knock it off?_ Rose scolds the seedling. _I been nice t’him thus far, you’re fuckin’ me all up with your piss poor attitude!_

Rose feels the mental equivalent of a kick and then the distinct feeling that her language ought to be considered. It takes all her faculties to not roll her eyes at the sensation. She can’t tip off Loki that she knows what he’s feeling to a degree.

“Well?” Loki asks, glaring his bright blue eyes at her. They’re ice blue. Rose thinks for a moment that they weren’t that blue moments ago, but she can’t recall exactly. So now she has one more thing to watch.

“Well what?” Rose asks flippantly.

“Answer my question…” Loki gestures casually.

“Which question?”

He slams the butt of his scepter on the floor harshly. In this fishbowl of a room, it echoes and a glass of whiskey on the coffee table rattles a little. “I don’t like repeating myself, Flower,” Loki says with an even and deadly tone. “Was Jamie your husband?”

“My name is Rose,” she says, eyes blazing. She knows half of her irritation is coming from the seedling. “And yes. Ya ever been married?”

“Yes…” Loki answers. “What happened to your husband?”

“He died,” Rose says leaning forward. “What happened t’your spouse?”

“She died,” Loki replies with no hint of emotion, though his body leans forward to match her posture. “What killed your husband?”

“An alien,” Rose says. “What killed yours?”

“My father,” he states.

“Really…?” Rose asks softly, her body language going soft when he spoke those two simple words.

There’s a long pause while the Little One chirps away in her head. Loki’s heart rate and the endorphins confirms that there is some element of truth to his words. Either it was true or Loki believed it was true. It doesn’t matter which, he’s given her something she didn’t expect.

“What… what happened?” she asks softly. The Little One starts shouting at her not to engage this dialogue, but Rose ignores her.

“Don’t pity me, mortal,” Loki snarls. “I don’t need your sympathy.”

_He’s deflecting!_ the Little One sings. _Deflecting deflector tips his hat to the truth!_

“Stop deflecting,” Rose says softly. “Tell me the truth, Lo—”

He slams the scepter on the floor and is on the floor in front of her in seconds, his hand wrapping around her throat. “Don’t tell me what to do…” he hisses.

Rose’s eyes light up instantly, a swirling vortex of gold energy. It’s majestic enough for Loki to inhale a sharp breath. His anger seems to subside for the time being.

“Unhand me, you fiend,” Rose says, but it’s not exactly her voice speaking. There’s a metallic twinge to it, like bells. The sheer power she’s wielding turns him on in ways he never expected. He wants her, but more so he wants her power.

“The Flower has a secret…” he purrs, tightening his grip on Rose’s throat.

“I said unhand me,” she repeats, glaring at him. Her hand wraps around his wrist and with inhuman strength she pulls his hand off her throat. “She likes you, Loki. And I don’t want to hurt you… But I will divide you, if I must.”


End file.
